One of the busiest coaches in the UWG Athletics department is head coach Ryan Bailey, who recently completed his ninth season with the university and has led the Wolves through one of the most transformative eras in program history, including the transition to Division I competition.
Bailey guided UWG Track & Field into its Division I era beginning in the 2024-25 season, where both the men’s and women’s programs made an immediate impact in the ASUN Conference. In the women’s first ASUN Outdoor Championship appearance, the Wolves scored 68 total points and earned eight medals, highlighted by one gold medal performance. The men’s team finished fourth overall with 89.5 points and secured six medals, all bronze.
In 2025-26, Bailey continued to elevate the program on the conference stage. The women improved to 71 total points while capturing two gold medals at the ASUN Outdoor Championships. On the men’s side, UWG surged to 115 points and totaled eight medals, including three gold medal performances. Under Bailey’s leadership, the Wolves also rewrote the program record books throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons with numerous school records and personal bests.
The 2022-23 Indoor Track and Field season was potentially one of the greatest in UWG history. Bailey oversaw a team that had three athletes in Brandi Boddy, Paishence Collier, and Mia Culpepper become the first West Georgia athletes to outright qualify for the NCAA Division II National Track and Field Championships. Under Bailey’s leadership, Boddy claimed her second Most Valuable Field Performer honor at the GSC Indoor Track and Field Championships, while T’oni Birden earned Most Outstanding Freshman Performer honors at the conference meet. Bailey and his staff also coached more than 10 student-athletes to either First Team or Second Team All-GSC honors.
Bailey was originally tasked with directing the men’s and women’s cross country programs as well as outdoor track & field when he was hired in the summer of 2017. He later helped usher in a new era for the department in 2019-20, when UWG introduced Indoor Track & Field as the university’s 14th sponsored sport.
Prior to arriving at West Georgia, Bailey spent 15 seasons leading men’s and women’s cross country programs and served as the women’s track head coach at Division I Mercer University in Macon. Athletes under Bailey’s guidance at Mercer consistently set and reset school records in events ranging from the 800 meters to the 10,000 meters.
Beyond his coaching duties at Mercer, Bailey also spent two years from 2005-07 overseeing the school’s strength and conditioning program. In addition, he has served as an instructor and lecturer for USA Track & Field, focusing on sports psychology, bio-motor skills for speed and power, physiology, race walking, and endurance.
Bailey’s teams have consistently excelled in the classroom as well. Both his men’s and women’s programs at Mercer earned Atlantic Sun Conference and NCAA All-Academic honors, while his program received NCAA public recognition in 2009 for ranking in the top 10 percent nationally in Academic Progress Rate.
A native of Texas, Bailey is an alumnus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Sport Sciences.
