UAA's Ryan McWilliams, who guided decathlete Cody Thomas and javelin thrower Cody Parker to national championships, has been promoted to associate head track and field coach for the Seawolves.
The move comes as McWilliams begins his seventh season at UAA. He came to the Seawolves as a graduate assistant in 2010 and after two years became an assistant coach for both cross country and track and field.
"We're very pleased to be able to promote Coach McWilliams to an associate head position for track and field," UAA head coach Michael Friess said in a press release from the school.
"Obviously his success, both recruiting as well as developing athletes over these past few years, has been tremendous. I think it's time in his career to demonstrate a little bit more leadership and we're really happy that we're able to offer that opportunity to him."
A three-time winner of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's assistant coach of the year award, McWilliams will remain an assistant coach for cross country.
Since becoming an assistant in 2012, McWilliams has helped coach the Seawolves to eight conference team championships and 10 top-10 national-championship finishes.
In that span UAA has produced 72 All-Americans, including Thomas, this year's NCAA Division II decathlon champion, and Parker, the 2013 javelin champ.
Before coming to Anchorage, McWilliams was a five-time Division II All-American at Angelo State. He was the national runner-up in the decathlon as a senior in 2009.