May 26, 2009
SEATTLE – Ryan Looney, who led Eastern Oregon University to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired as the men’s basketball coach at Seattle Pacific University, athletic director Erin O’Connell announced Tuesday.
Looney, 33, compiled a 95-55 record in five seasons with Eastern Oregon. His Mountaineers won 63.3 percent of their games, the best winning percentage among all-time EOU coaches.
“We're extremely excited to open this new chapter and welcome Ryan to our campus community and our athletic department team,” O’Connell said. “Under his five years of leadership at Eastern Oregon University, Ryan's teams displayed great success in the classroom and on the court. Our men's basketball program is no stranger to these characteristics and we look to Ryan to lead our team to push that envelope even further.”
Looney directed EOU to back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009, stopping the school’s postseason drought that dated to the 1950s. His Mountaineers won the 2008 Cascade Collegiate Conference championship, their first title in 38 years, and shared the conference crown in 2009.
The 2009 EOU squad registered a 25-8 record, including 14 consecutive victories, before suffering an 80-79 NAIA quarterfinal setback against No. 1-ranked and eventual national champion Oklahoma Wesleyan.
Looney becomes the 11th head coach for the SPU program that began sponsoring intercollegiate men’s basketball in 1946. He replaces Jeff Hironaka, who left after 18 years on the Falcons staff to become an assistant coach at Washington State. Hironaka served the last seven seasons as the head coach at SPU, where he compiled a 134-67 record and participated in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments.
"My family and I are excited about becoming part of the tradition of excellence in SPU athletics,” Looney said. “The Christian campus, location, and people make it a great opportunity for us. The basketball program at SPU has experienced a high volume of success over the years. I hope to be able to build upon the strong foundation that has been established."
Looney led a resurgence in the Eastern Oregon program that struggled to a 28-50 record in the three seasons prior to his arrival. After a 4-22 record in his inaugural 2005 campaign, the Mountaineers improved to 17-11 in 2006 and 23-8 in 2007.
The 2008 Mountaineers produced a memorable season, finishing with the most wins in program history. EOU had a 26-6 record, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NAIA Tournament and was ranked as high as No. 3 in the national poll. Looney received the league’s 2008 Coach of the Year award.
Progress also was made in the classroom as the EOU men’s basketball program maintained over a 3.00 team composite grade point average (GPA) for nine consecutive terms. Currently, they have the highest team GPA of any male athletic team on the La Grande, Ore. campus.
Looney was hired as Eastern Oregon’s head coach in May of 2004. He served the previous two seasons as the top assistant at NCAA Division II Minnesota State University Moorhead, helping the team to a 33-24 record and a berth in the finals of the 2002 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament.
He played collegiately at Eastern Oregon from 1996-98, averaging 7.2 points in 53 career games. An NAIA All-America scholar athlete, Looney still holds the school’s career free throw accuracy record at 89.5 percent. After graduating in 1998 from EOU, Looney got his first head coaching job in 1998-99 at Cove High School.
After working two seasons as an assistant at Wisconsin-LaCrosse, where he received his Master of Science degree in sports administration in 2001, Looney joined the staff at North Idaho College for the 2001-02 season.
Looney is married to former EOU cross country and track & field standout Julianna Morris. The two have a 1-year-old daughter, Peyton Danielle.
Seattle Pacific’s new coach inherits a team that posted a 19-10 record in 2008-09 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament. The Falcons placed third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with an 11-5 record. They were the league’s last surviving team in the postseason after eliminating co-champion Western Washington in the first round of the playoffs.
Just one letterman, senior forward Casey Reed, departs from last year’s team.
"There is a great core group of players returning. I can't wait to start working with them," said Looney.
RYAN LOONEY'S HEAD COACHING LEDGER
Eastern Oregon University
Year Overall Pct. Conference Pct. Place
2004-05 4-22 .154 3-15 .167 9th
2005-06 17-11 .607 10-8 .556 5th
2006-07 23-8 .742 12-6 .667 5th
2007-08 26-6 .813 17-3 .850 1st
2008-09 25-8 .758 15-5 .750 1st (tie)
Totals 95-55 .633 57-37 .606