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Phone: 712-274-5283
E-Mail: ryan@morningside.edu
Steve Ryan has a 46-22 career record for a .676 winning percentage in six seasons with the Mustangs to make him one of the most successful head football coaches in Morningside history. Ryan, who has led the Mustangs to four consecutive NAIA National Playoff appearances, ranks third in school history in career victories and his .676 winning percentage is the highest victory rate in school history.
Ryan was named the 2005 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Region 4 Coach of the Year and the 2005 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Coach of the Year after he guided Morningside to its greatest football season in school history during the 2005 campaign.
The Mustangs posted a 12-1 record and were ranked third nationally in the final regular season NAIA poll. Morningside, the GPAC champion with a perfect 10-0 record, advanced to the semifinals of the NAIA National Playoffs before it lost 42-14 against second-ranked University of Saint Francis. The Mustangs toppled No. 14 St. Ambrose University 58-7 and No. 10 Evangel University 54-21 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
He led the Mustangs to records of 9-3 and the quarterfinals of the NAIA Playoffs in both the 2006 and 2007 campaigns.
Ryan was named the GPAC Coach of the Year in 2004 as well as the 2004 NAIA Football.net National Coach of the Year after he guided the Mustangs to an 8-3 record and their first-ever appearance in the NAIA National Playoffs. The Mustangs reached the second round of the 2006 NAIA Playoffs en route to a 9-3 finish.
Ryan guided Morningside to a 5-5 record in 2002 in his first season with the Mustangs to snap a streak of 15 consecutive losing seasons. The five wins were the college's most victories since the 1985 campaign. Included
among the victories was a stunning 24-21 double overtime upset
of Wayne State College in the season's opener. Ryan also led
the Mustangs to a 28-25 upset win against 2002 GPAC runner-up
Doane College, a loss that helped knock the Tigers out of
the NAIA National Playoffs.
He was previously an assistant coach at Ottawa University. Ottawa posted a 32-9 record for
an .821 winning percentage and twice qualified for the NAIA
National Playoffs during Ryan's tenure there.
Ryan is a 1989 graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, where he was a four-year letterwinner and a three-year starter as a linebacker.
Ryan received his master’s degree from National-Louis University in 1997.
Assistant Coach Josh Gehring
Phone: 712-274-5326
E-Mail: gehring@morningside.edu
 Offensive coordinator Josh Gehring will be in his second season with the Mustangs in 2008.
Gehring coached one of the NAIA's most prolific offensive units during the 2007 season when the Mustangs averaged 36.1 points and 405.3 yards total offense per game.
Gehring joined the Mustangs from Concordia University in River Forest, Ill., where he was the defensive coordinator for the NCAA Division III Cougars during the 2006 campaign. He was the architect of a Concordia defense that topped the Illini-Badger Football Conference in defensive takeaways.
He has also been an assistant coach at Missouri State University, Western Kentucky University, Manchester College, Ottawa University, and Rock Bridge High School in Missouri, and was the wide receivers coach with the Swedish-American Football Federation.
Gehring, a native of Mounds, Okla., is a 1999 graduate of Ottawa University, where he was a three-year letterwinner as a quarterback, defensive back, and punt returner. He helped lead the Braves to a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) championship in 1997 and the school's first-ever appearance in the NAIA National Playoffs. He played quarterback for two first-division European teams following his collegiate career. He played for the Esbjerg Hurricanes of Denmark and the Ytown Rockets of Ystad, Sweden.
Gehring received a masters degree in sports administration from Ball State University in 2004.
Assistant Coach Jay Christensen
Phone: 712-274-5328
E-Mail: christensen@morningside.edu
 Jay Christensen is in his first season as the Mustangs’ defensive coordinator.
He comes to Morningside from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where he was an assistant coach for the past four seasons. Christensen was a graduate assistant coach in charge of inside linebackers in 2004. He was a full-time assistant coach in charge of the Lopers’ defensive backs during his final three seasons at Nebraska-Kearney.
Christensen helped lead the Lopers to a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) championship and a NCAA Division II Playoff appearance in 2005. Nebraska-Kearney ranked second nationally in team scoring defense with an average of 11.5 points per game in 2006. Christensen’s expertise helped the Lopers garner four first-team All-RMAC defensive back selections from 2005-07.
Christensen’s first coaching position came as an assistant coach at Ravenna High School in Nebraska in 2003.
Christensen is a 1999 graduate of Nebraska-Kearney, where he was a defensive back and linebacker for the Lopers from 1994-98. He was a two-year starter and a team co-captain as a senior. Christensen amassed 146 tackles during his Nebraska-Kearney career.
Assistant
Coach Dan Carpenter
Phone: 712-274-5281
E-Mail: carpenter@morningside.edu
 Dan
Carpenter is in his fifth season on the Mustangs' coaching
staff. He coaches the Mustangs' defensive lineman after serving as a wide receivers coach during the 2004 campaign.
He came to Morningside
from Ohio State University, where he was a student intern
from 2001 to 2003 for one of the most prestigious collegiate
football programs in the nation. While with the Buckeyes,
Carpenter worked with the defensive line and assisted with
scouting reports and film breakdowns. He was a member of the
coaching staff for Ohio State's 2002 national championship
team.
Carpenter, a 2004
graduate of Ohio State, was a volunteer assistant coach at
Le Mars Community High School from 1998 to 2000, where he
helped lead the Bulldogs to a pair of Class 3A state playoff
appearances.
Assistant Coach Keenan Ganz
Phone: 712-274-5311
E-Mail: ganz@morningside.edu
 Keenan Ganz is in his first season with the Mustangs and will coach the team’s wide receivers.
Ganz was an assistant coach at Avila University in Kansas City for the past two seasons, where he served as the Eagles’ wide receivers coach and passing coordinator. Avila had a pass completion rate of 59.4 percent and averaged 213.9 yards passing per game during the 2007 campaign.
He served on the coaching staff at the 2006 and 2007 Tim Dwight Camps.
Ganz is a 2005 graduate of Baker University, where he earned All-Heart of America Conference honors as a wide receiver and was a three-year captain for the Wildcats’ football team. He caught 35 passes for 582 yards and five touchdowns and led Baker’s receivers with an average of 16.6 yards per catch as a senior.
Assistant
Coach Casey Jacobsen
Phone: 712-274-5281
E-Mail: jacobsen@morningside.edu
 Casey
Jacobsen is in his fifth season with the Mustangs. He is the
team's special teams and linebackers coach, as well as the athletic department's equipment manager.
Jacobsen previously
coached at Buena Vista University, where he was the Beavers'
defensive line coach during the 2003 season and an assistant
offensive line coach during the 2002 campaign.
He is a 2002 graduate of Buena Vista,
where he was a four-year letterwinner and a three-year starter
as an offensive center.
Assistant Coach Jared Ocker
Phone: 712-274-5311
 Jared Ocker is in his second season with the Mustangs. Ocker, who serves as the Mustangs' runnings back coach, was an assistant coach at Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto High School for the previous four years.
Ocker is also the head baseball coach at Sioux City East High School, where he led the Black Raiders to a 26-14 record during the 2007 campaign. He was the head baseball coach at Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto in 2006 and was also an assistant boy's basketball and assistant men's golf coach at the school.
He is a 2001 graduate of Midland Lutheran College, where he was a honorable mention All-GPAC baseball pitcher and the NAIA National Pitcher of the Week during the 2001 season. He previously attended Morningside and was a member of the Mustangs' baseball team.
Assistant Coach Nathan Turner
Phone: 712-274-5359
 Nathan Turner is in his second season with the Mustangs. Turner is the Mustangs' outside linebackers coach.
He was previously the running backs coach and video coordinator at Eastern Oregon University.
Turner graduated from Eastern Oregon in 2004. He was one of the Mountaineers' team captains in 2003. That season he was the recipient of Eastern Oregon's Iron Man Strength and Big Team Little Me awards.
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