Emily Ryan

AMES — Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly announced the addition of Emily Ryan to his staff as a graduate assistant.

“Emily’s loyalty to Iowa State and her passion for this program are truly special. Her work ethic is as good as I have ever seen,” Fennelly said. “I am confident that she will impact our program as a coach, just as she did as one of the best players to ever play at Iowa State.”

Ryan ended her career as one of the best point guards in Iowa State history, recording top-five all-time marks in assists, steals and blocks. She set the program record for assists and ranks seventh all-time in the NCAA with 993 assists. Her 1,632 points rank 11th all-time at ISU and she was just the third NCAA women’s basketball player to record 1,500 assists, 900 assists and 600 rebounds in a career.

Throughout her five seasons running point for the Cyclones, Ryan was a three-time All-Big 12 honoree, a 2024 Big 12 All-Tournament team member, a three-time Naismith Trophy watch list member, 2025 Wooden Award watch list member and a two-time Nancy Lieberman Award watch list member. For her excellence both on the court and in the classroom, she was voted a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Third Team Academic All-America in 2024-25.

Ryan received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Iowa State University.