Ryan Konitzer enters his ninth season at UWSP in 2026. He was introduced as the 13th head softball coach in UW-Stevens Point program history on Aug. 3, 2017. He came to UWSP from Alverno College in Milwaukee.
Konitzer returned the Pointers to the NCAA Tournament in 2025, the first back-to-back seasons since 1998 and 1999. His team won the NCAA Tournament Oshkosh Regional to advance to the program's first-ever Super Regional round, falling to eventual national champion Trine. The team set a school record with 117 stolen bases. Morgan Harwood earned NFCA All-America honors, the first since 2003. She set program records for starts, appearances and strikeouts in a season. Jesse Klicker set school records for career stolen bases and career triples. Junior Ashley Zygowski led the country in saves for the second-straight season and sits second in DIII history with 27 career saves.
In 2024, Konitzer finished with the teams' best win output (32 wins) and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. Konitzer, and assistant Brittany Baneck picked up WIAC Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the first time since Dean Schuda was WIAC Coach of the Year in 1994. For the first time since 2011, the team was in the top 25 ranking during the season. Harwood was tabbed with WIAC Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year under Konitzer's leadership, along with six other players to earn All-WIAC honors. Harwood finished with one of the lowest ERA's in the country and NFCA DIII Freshman of the Year Finalist. Zygowski set NCAA DIII, WIAC and UWSP single-season saves record with 15 on the season. As a team, the Pointers set a single-season school record with 111 stolen bases, the first time in program history with at least 100 stolen bases in a season.
The 2023 season saw Konitzer coach the Pointers to the WIAC Tournament title game, the first appearance in the final for UWSP since 2001. And for the second time in three seasons, his squad set the single season mark for stolen bases, swiping 97 in 2023.
In 2021, Konitzer led the Pointers to the first WIAC Tournament win since 2009 as he led UWSP to the semifinals. His Pointers earned 23 wins, the most since 2011. Konitzer also coached his second-straight WIAC Position Player of the Year in Maddie Candre. She was one of five Pointers to land All-WIAC honors in 2021 and one of three to earn NFCA All-Region laurels. Konitzer's team set the school record for stolen bases in a season in 2021 with 83 swipes. He also saw pitcher Makenna Tkach set the school record for appearances in a season.
In his first season with the Pointers, Konitzer's team racked up 43 stolen bases, the third-most in school history. He upped that total in 2019 with 59 swipes, the second-most in program history. His team won 17 games in 2019, the most since 2013.
Under his tutelage, Lauren Luedtke was named the WIAC Position Player of the Year in 2019. She was one of three all-conference players for Konitzer in 2019. He has coached 10 all-conference players in his three full seasons at UWSP.
At Alverno, Konitzer led the Inferno to a school record in sacrifice hits and stolen bases in 2017. He won 13 games, including six in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play in his lone season at Alverno.
Konitzer was an assistant coach at Lawrence prior to taking the helm at Alverno. Upon his arrival, he helped the Vikings capture their first Midwest Conference North Division Championship in 10 years, while accumulating the second-highest win total in program history (28). In two seasons at Lawrence, he helped the Vikings record the second-highest fielding percentage .965) in program history in 2015. He also instructed the slap-hitters, which improved their batting average by over .120 in his two seasons with Lawrence.
Prior to heading to Lawrence, Konitzer was the head varsity coach at Lourdes Academy High School in Oshkosh for the 2014 season where he guided the team to a 14-5 record -- a nine-win improvement over the prior season -- and was awarded the Trailways Conference Coach of the Year honor. The Knights led the conference in stolen bases and sacrifice hits and made it to the WIAA regional championship game.
He was an assistant coach at Ripon College from 2008-13, his alma mater, where the Red Hawks rewrote the record books and won a pair of league championships. In that span, he helped lead the program to its first two appearances in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship Tournament. The Ripon staff was named the 2011 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
Ryan and his wife, Kendra, have two children, Henlee and Casen.
