A head coach who has brought the program to new heights in his first seven years, Ryan Keckley has been the head coach of San Diego men’s tennis since 2015-16. The 2022-23 season will be his eighth at the helm of USD.
Keckley’s tenure at USD can be only described as “championship-level” as he has led the Toreros to WCC championships five times, helped guide four Toreros to All-American status as well as five singles and three doubles pairs to reach the NCAA tournament as individuals, and accumulated a 119-51 (.700) record – including 47-8 in conference play (.855).
He picked up a program-record 24 wins in his first year as the head man at USD and has won 20+ matches three times in six full campaigns.
In 2022, Keckley guided the Toreros to perhaps the best season in program history. USD compiled a 23-4 overall record, including a perfect 9-0 in WCC play. San Diego won the WCC Championship over Pepperdine and later defeated UC Irvine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. August Holmgren completed one of the best seasons in USD Athletics history, including a run to the NCAA Singles title match. Holmgren was ranked the No. 1 singles player in the nation by the ITA heading into the spring after winning the ITA Fall National Championship. USD ranked as high as No. 17 during the season and finished No. 19 in the country, its highest final ranking in 32 years.
In June 2022, San Diego earned the No. 5 recruiting class in the nation by tennisrecruiting.net.
Nationally, Keckley and the Toreros have finished each of his seven seasons in the final ITA team rankings, including No. 19 in 2022. They have reached the NCAA Tournament in five seasons as well.
A two-time WCC Coach of the Year and ITA regional assistant coach of the year, Keckley has been a part of seven NCAA Tournament teams in his 14 years as a collegiate tennis coach (13 full seasons). Seven of those have been with the Toreros.
From an individual standpoint, Keckley has tutored several Toreros to All-WCC honors during his time as the head coach, a list that includes three conference players of the year, two conference freshmen of the year, 19 all-conference honors in singles and 12 pairs in doubles, and 10 conference all-academic nods.
Keckley has built the Toreros through stellar recruiting and development. The 2017 recruiting class was ranked No. 17 in the nation by TennisRecruiting.net as well as No. 1 among mid-majors as it included August Holmgren and David Norfeldt.
Including his time as an assistant at USD, eight of the possible nine recruiting classes through 2020 were ranked in the top-20 for all mid-majors and five in the top-25 for the entire country (No. 14 in 2010; No. 17 in 2017; No. 24 in 2020, No. 5 in 2022).
Keckley spent three seasons as USD's assistant coach to Brett Masi from September 2009 through July 2012. In his final year, he was named the ITA Southwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year as the Toreros were ranked No. 26 in the country and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to his stint as USD’s head coach, Keckley was an assistant coach at Princeton from 2012 to 2015. During his time with the Tigers, Keckley helped Princeton to 48 wins, including the second-most wins in program history (18) in 2015. In that campaign, Keckley and the Tigers also ended a 17-year NCAA tournament drought, returning to the draw for the first time since 1998. For his efforts, Keckley was named the ITA Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year, his second such award in four seasons.
Keckley enjoyed a successful undergraduate career at Notre Dame before moving into the coaching ranks. Keckley was a mainstay in the ITA doubles rankings with the Fighting Irish, ending his career with the third-most doubles victories (81) in program history. Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA tournament in all four of his years there, twice reaching the Round of 16.
Keckley earned three All-Big East Tournament Team doubles honors as well as achieved Big East Academic All-Star status three times. While helping the Irish to three Big East Conference championships, Keckley was ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation in doubles while also reaching No. 115 in singles play. He played in the 2007 NCAA doubles tournament and was also an ITA Midwest Regional doubles champion.
Keckley, a South Bend, Ind., native, was the 2002 Indiana state high school singles champion before moving on to his hometown school.
