Ryan Bowles is in his ninth year as the athletic director at St. Olaf in 2023-24. He was named to the position on July 30, 2015 and began his tenure on the Hill on Sept. 1, 2015.
At St. Olaf, Bowles oversees the college’s 26 varsity sports teams, as well as athletic training, sports performance, event management, facility management and sports information. A member of the President’s Leadership Team, Bowles leads a staff of 70 full-time and part-time staff in the athletic department.
Under Bowles' leadership, the Oles have won 10 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championships since 2015 and most recently finished 64th in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup Standings in 2022-23, marking St. Olaf's highest finish in the national all-sports competition since 2015-16.
St. Olaf student-athletes have also excelled academically during Bowles' time on the Hill. During the 2021-22 academic year, 216 St. Olaf student-athletes earned Academic All-MIAC honors and over 50 percent of the college's student-athletes had a grade-point average (GPA) of at least 3.50 in both semesters. Nineteen of the department's teams had a team GPA of at least 3.30 in the fall of 2021 and 18 had a GPA of at least 3.40 in the spring of 2022. St. Olaf has also produced nine College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans since 2019.
During Bowles’ time on the Hill, he has overseen numerous facility upgrades made possible by fundraising, including the planning and construction of the $8 million St. Olaf Ice Arena and the $1.25 million renovation of Rolf Mellby Field, home of the St. Olaf men’s and women’s soccer teams. Other projects include installing FieldTurf at Klein Field at Manitou (football), renovating the weight room in Porter Hall, building an indoor golf simulator facility, resurfacing the indoor tennis courts, and developing a softball batting cage facility.
Bowles has also helped the department develop additional programming for student-athletes through on-campus collaborations. Through a partnership with the Piper Center for Vocation and Career, the athletic department created the Ole Leadership Academy, a year-long program for sophomore student-athletes that pairs exploration of leadership models with self-reflection, group work, sessions with athletic alumni leaders, and skill building. Bowles also played a key role in creating the Student Orientation to Academic Resources (SOAR) program, an eight-week program in the fall designed to help transition first-year students to college with the goal of improving academic performance and retention.
Additionally, Bowles serves as the chair of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Athletic Directors' Council and as the AD liaison to the MIAC men’s basketball coaches group. He also negotiated and signed an exclusive five-year apparel contract with Under Armour via BSN Sports in May 2017.
Prior to coming to St. Olaf in 2015, Bowles spent 12 years working in the athletic department at the University of Maryland from 2003-2015. At Maryland, he oversaw 11 varsity sports and served on the department's leadership team. Bowles was also the liaison to the Athletics Council, a group of faculty, staff, and students that advise the President's Office on matters regarding intercollegiate athletics at Maryland.
In 2014, Bowles also oversaw Maryland's transition from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to the Big Ten and served on the Big Ten's Sports Management Council.
In his prior roles at Maryland, Bowles directed the NCAA and conference championship events hosted by the university. He also played a leadership role in the development and rollout of a five-year strategic plan for athletics at Maryland.
Bowles began his intercollegiate athletics career as the Asa S. Bushnell Intern for Championships at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) in Massachusetts. There, he was also involved in event management and was the liaison for a number of championship committees.
He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from McDaniel College, where he was a four-time letterwinner on the men's soccer team.
