Wheeling, W. Va. - Growing up in the United Kingdom, former Wheeling University Assistant Soccer Coach, and MBA graduate, Ryan Wall spent a lot of time around the sport of soccer. He played the sport his entire life and was thrilled when he got the opportunity to come to the United States and continue his soccer career collegiately. He came to Wheeling in 2001 to serve as an assistant to legendary Wheeling Head Men's Soccer Coach Jim Regan and almost 20 years later he is still here giving back to local college soccer players as General Manager and Head Coach of the Wheeling Highlanders.
Soccer was everything to Wall throughout his childhood and he was able to realize his dreams when he turned a sport he loved into an opportunity here in America.
"Soccer has always been a part of my life," said Wall. "I grew up in a soccer family and lived in a soccer country and it was absolutely everything over there. I got to a point where I was playing soccer and I got pretty good at it and was training with professional clubs in the UK. Then an opportunity came to play soccer in the US while pursuing a degree and back in the mid to late 90's it wasn't as popular for international kids to come play soccer, so I took the chance and came over."
Wall would end up playing four years of college soccer at the NAIA powerhouse Rio Grande university, where he was a four-year starter for the Red Storm. With not many players coming over to the states to play soccer at the time, Wall was ready to take the opportunity to play the sport he loves and run with it. With the new opportunity came a culture change as Wall had to adjust to not only the level of competition he was facing, but some of the elements he would have to deal with as well.
"I think one of the big things for me was adjusting to the climate," said Wall. "We aren't used to playing in this heat, especially because the season begins in early August. Another thing was my accent because I came over with a really strong accent. I had to learn how to communicate better and that is something I had to train myself to do so that I could be better understood."
However, he would overcome those challenges and became a four-year starter for the Red Storm. He was a four-time All-MOC selection and helped lead the University of Rio Grande to their first-ever Conference Championship during the 1996 season. After finishing his four years, Wall would head back to the UK in search of work and thought his soccer career would end.
However, he still had an itch for coaching and wanted to get back into the game. He remembered a match he played in a small town called Wheeling, West Virginia and recalled how beautiful the town was. He had a connection with the head coach, Jim Regan, and reached out to find his next opportunity.
"I actually played college soccer here against Wheeling in the late 90's and through that I got to know the Head Coach Jimmy Regan," said Wall. "After college I went back to the UK and decided I wanted to get into coaching, so I came back over to the states and reached out to Jimmy. He ended up having an assistant coaching role available with an opportunity to get an MBA and that's how I landed back in Wheeling of all places."
His first season on the Wheeling University sidelines was in 2001 and he helped Coach Regan lead some of the most successful teams in program history. In his first season, he helped lead the Cardinals to a 17-4-1 overall record, their second-best mark in program history, and a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) title. He also helped add two more regular season conference championships to the program and the team would go 46-14-4 during his three seasons on the sidelines. He helped mentor 21 All-WVIAC players, five All-Americans, and two WVIAC Players of the Year.
Aside from the success that the team was having on the field, the chance to work alongside Regan was an opportunity Wall will always remember. He gained valuable coaching experience during that time and thanks Regan for treating him as an equal on the sideline and giving him the power to help lead the team to so many years of success.
"It was fantastic getting to work with Jimmy," said Wall. "He is one of those guys that treats you like an equal. There was no over management or anything and one of the wonderful things was that he gave you a lot of work to do and you were empowered to do a lot of training. That was really valuable hands-on coaching experience that he gave me and the other coaches who came through his program. And when we won things we shared in the victory, and it was a really great experience. I continue to be friends with him and other members of the program."
He ended up graduating from Wheeling University with his Master's in Business Administration in the mid-2000's after going in and out of the program. It was a busy time in his life, as he got married and had children during his time in the program, and he praises how flexible the schedule was to work with him. He particularly thanked Dr Ed Younkins and Dr. John Mansuy for being great mentors to him during his time in the classroom.
Even after he graduated with his MBA, he kept his connection with Wheeling, working in the Admissions department after graduation. He worked with international students and was trying to help bring the same opportunities that he was afforded to other kids outside the US.
"I can't say enough about how Wheeling helped catapult me into my career," said Wall. "I was doing my MBA and then I also had an opportunity to work in the Admissions department as an admissions counselor working with international students. So, in a way Wheeling gave me my first big break in my career and I was at a juncture of whether I start coaching or pursuing a different career. Then, a federal program opened on campus, and one was for an export administration program, so I got an opportunity to jump into that program and that's where my career went. I wouldn't have had that opportunity if I didn't connect with Jimmy and start working at Wheeling."
After leaving the coaching world for several years while he worked and raised his family right here in Wheeling. After his son got older, Wall found himself back in the soccer world and once again connected with the Regan family. This time, he was working with Jim's sons Brandon and Sean Regan on a new soccer program tailored to college-aged kids. Thus, the Wheeling Highlanders were born with Wall at the helm and the Regan brothers supporting him.
The original goal was to create an opportunity for the top area college and high school players to be able to play highly competitive soccer in Wheeling during the summer months. Today, the Highlanders have both a U18 Academy and a U23 Men's Team that competes in the OVPL. The goal is the same as from the beginning as Wall tries to grow soccer in Wheeling.
"It was something I wanted to do for a while and it was kind of a brainchild of myself and Sean Regan," said Wall. "So, we just started putting it together and the main reason was to make sure our top-quality players, whether they were at Wheeling, West Liberty, or other Regional schools or whether it's our top high school players, the opportunity to play at a high level in Wheeling during the summer."
For Wall, the Highlanders is an opportunity to help some of the top players around the region continue their seasons and return in the fall in the best shape possible. Being that these players already know the fundamentals of the game, Wall can focus on the High-Level stuff, and he enjoys the opportunity to not only coach soccer but give back to a Wheeling community that he is proud to have worked with for several years.
"I feel like what the Highlanders does for those athletes is it gives them really quality conditioning, training, and game experience for a continued period," said Wall. "Your college athletic season is very short whether its football, soccer, or anything else is only two to three months. So, what we are doing is extending that by three or four months in the summer. Hopefully, what it does for the players is it brings them back in real peak form in the fall where they can hit the ground running."
Wheeling University is deeply embedded into Wall's life from both a soccer aspect and a career aspect. It helped catapult him into the career he has today and allowed him to stay in Wheeling to begin the Highlanders program. To those looking at Wheeling, Wall says that it is a jewel in the middle of West Virginia with great opportunities in store.
"I have a lot of affection for Wheeling University, and it gave me a lot of opportunities," said Wall. "It really is a little jewel within the city of Wheeling in Ohio County and there are a lot of people there that are simply great people working there. I want to see it succeed and I want to see it do well and I really encourage people to look at it, there are a lot of good things there."
