Ryan Cain was hired as the Owls head coach in August of 2015, the 14th in program history, and just completed his eighth season in 2022-2023.
After those eight years in Keene, the Owl leader boasts a record of 146-66 (.687), and has won at least 19 games in six of the eight seasons the helm of the Owls along with four Little East Conference tournament championships. KSC has reached the Little East tournament championship game seven times under his leadership and the NCAA tournament five times.
In 2022-2023, KSC not only had a pair of All-Americans (Jeff Hunter and Octavio Brito), but also won a program single-season record 28 games, went undefeated in the Little East Conference regular season, and made it back-to-back league tournament championships for the first time. The Owls also were selected as an NCAA tournament first and second round hosting site, where they knocked off Baruch College and Tufts University to advance to the Sweet 16 once again (for the fifth time since 2004 and third time under Cain). KSC was ranked as high as No. 4 - the highest ranking in program history - in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll during the season, and was ranked in every in-season poll for the first time ever before finishing the year ranked No. 10.
The most recent season was just another successful one to add to an increasing ledger of success. In 2021-2022, under Cain's watch, the Owls defeated No. 24 UMass-Dartmouth 71-69 in overtime in thrilling fashion on the road to win the Little East Conference tournament. KSC would reach the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in under Cain, advancing to the second round after taking down a ranked Swarthmore College team on their home court. During his tenure, Cain has also helped the Owls make it to the Elite Eight in 2017 and the Sweet 16 in 2016.
The Owls shared the Little East regular season title in 2018-2019 and captured the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament, where KSC beat Western Connecticut 107-80 and Eastern Connecticut 72-69 to win the program's fourth LEC tournament title. It was Cain's second in four years on the KSC bench.
Cain established the Owls into a perennial feature on the national stage very quickly in his tenure at KSC, and that has maintained itself ever since. In 2016-2017, the Owls defeated Amherst College, No. 5 Ramapo College, and No. 2 Christopher Newport University to reach the Elite 8 before bowing out to eventual national champion Babson College.
Keene State finished 22-10 and 10-4 within the LEC, gaining the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Owls finished with a No. 11 ranking in the final national poll of the season, at the time the highest in program history (which has since been surpassed).
During the 2015-2016 season, he led the Owls to a 20-11 record and an 8-6 mark in the LEC, as well as the No. 3 seed in the Little East Conference tournament. Working through several injuries this year, Cain and the Owls won their second consecutive Little East Conference tournament championship, and reached the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament for the first time in nine years. Keene State finished with a national ranking of No. 22 in the final d3hoops.com poll that season.
Under his watch, several Owls have received LEC All-Conference honors, including Matt Ozzella, Ty Nichols, Nate Howard, Nate Stitchell, James Anozie, Jeff Hunter, and Octavio Brito, among others. Nichols became the school's all-time leading scorer in January of 2019 and was later named the program's fourth All-American, by both d3hoops and the NABC, and the d3hoops.com Northeast Region Player of the Year. Additionally, Howard signed a professional contract to play in Canada.
Cain came to Keene from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he spent 12 years as both a player and a coach. One of the greatest players in WPI history, Cain is the Engineers’ all-time leading scorer and led the Engineers to four New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season championships and a pair of NEWMAC tournament titles. The Engineers reached the NCAA tournament in Cain’s final three years as a player (2005-07), including the Sweet 16 in 2005.
A three time NEWMAC All-Conference selection, Cain was the league’s Player of the Year in 2005 and 2007, and was named the Jostens Award winner in 2007 as the top student-athlete in NCAA Division III men’s basketball.
After the conclusion of his playing career, Cain moved to the Engineers’ bench, serving as an assistant coach to Chris Bartley, and continuing WPI’s success with NCAA tournament appearances in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Cain helped WPI to five NEWMAC regular season championships, one tournament title, and developed Antoine Coleman (2008) and Jeffrey Robinson (2011) as NEWMAC Players of the Year.
