It’s the beginning of an exciting new era in Santa Barbara City College, as the fresh-faced Ryan Byrne begins his first Semester as Athletic Director.

Byrne, is a product of the California Community College system, thus making him an ideal selection for the position.

“His experience in the community college system has definitely set him up to be a contributing factor to this program, said Craig Moropoulos, head coach of City College Football. “He knows the demands of a coach, he knows what I go through. He’s been there.”

Byrne played football at Santa Rosa Junior College. While at SRJC, Byrne earned All-Conference honors as starting quarterback. As a result of his success on and off the field, Byrne accepted a scholarship at Florida A&M, but his time there was brief due to an injury.

He returned to the west coast to complete his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis.

“Teaching and coaching was always something I was really passionate about and something I was good at,” Byrne said. “So instead of trying to think abstractly about ‘what can I do?’, I just went with what I naturally gravitated toward, which was athletics.”

He then went on to the University of California, Berkley, to get his Masters of Education.

One of the most important aspects of SBCC to Byrne is the quality of the educational experience. He wants to ensure that athletics department can serve to complement those strengths, rather than compete with them.

“I view our program as a model student success program, we just happen to use athletics as the vehicle to be able to connect with the students,” Byrne said.

Byrne’s goals for athletics at City College are ambitious. He believes transfer rates are the best indication of athletic success at a Junior College on a departmental level, and that’s been made a top priority. He’s set a goal of a 30 percent transfer rate, across all sports. To Byrne, City College athletics should be producing athletes that reflect the schools commitment to academics.

“Four-year coaches and four-year programs are only going to recruit from programs that they feel like they’re going to benefit from,” Byrne said. “What sets us apart are our academic standards and the academic product that we have here on campus.”

“We’re teaching personal growth, we’re teaching life lessons, we’re teaching accountability, we’re teaching discipline,” Byrne said. “We’re just doing all those things through athletics.”