Work ethic, attention to detail pays off for SIU QBs coach Ryan McVicker

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Ryan McVicker started at the bottom of the Saluki Football ladder, volunteering as a student assistant during his freshman year of college in 2018. Known for his tireless work ethic and attention to detail, in the last eight years he ascended to graduate assistant, to offensive quality control, and finally to quarterbacks coach, and is an indispensable member of the offensive staff.

StrongDawgs: You have a well-earned reputation for putting in long hours. What’s your typical day like during the season?

RM: I really don't need an alarm clock. It's just kind of second nature to get up around 4:45, get here and get some early-morning thoughts of what Coach (Hill) wants on the scripts and installs. At practice, just being there to lead the quarterbacks and still having the mindset of helping the offense as a whole. After practice, collecting some data for the quarterbacks, they always like to look at completion percentage, and then getting ready for film study with the QBs where we go through each play from practice and see what we're thinking. Mid-afternoon I’ll try to get a workout in on the treadmill, and then there are meetings and walk-throughs. Around 9:30 or 10, shut it down, and do it all over again the next day.

SD: Your dad, Marty McVicker, is a well-known high school coach in Colorado. Tell me about growing up in a football family.

RM: My dad grew up in Iowa, moved to Colorado to go to Colorado State, and that's where he met my mom, and they settled down in Fort Collins. My mom is a teacher, so I have always been around the lifestyle of teaching and coaching. Growing up, I was at practice all the time with my brothers and my dad. I really didn't know anything else. I always loved it.

My freshman year at Poudre High School was the first year of my dad being the head coach, and that was super fun. That was a special time. I wasn't the flashiest player. I played corner and some receiver and was just a grinder. Like we tell our players, know what to do and execute, you'll find your way out there.

SD:You’re from the same high school as Coach (Nate) Griffin. Did that connection play a role in you ending up at SIU?

RM: Yes. On the back half of my senior year of high school, I had no plan. I kind of wanted to stay close to home and maybe go to CSU, and my dad brought up, “what would you think about helping Coach Griff at SIU, you'd be good at that.” So I hit Griff up, and he's like, "Yeah, man, that would be awesome, come to SIU and get your foot in the door.”

SD: What were your initial responsibilities?

RM: One of my first duties ever was to go to Culver’s to pick up coaches’ dinner (laughs). I was helping with equipment, data input, some random duties. Then I got in with Griff and started in the running back room, and then with Nick Williams in the receivers room. You learn one position at a time and keep checking them off.

When COVID hit, we didn't have an offensive GA. Buck (Johnson) was our offensive GA for two months and got moved into operations. Then we went on a hiring freeze, and I can remember Coach Hill telling me, "We really don't have an offensive GA. You're gonna have to do it." We played all those games in the spring and turned around and had a fall season. You just had to be willing to do everything — scouting reports, installs, and you just learn so much.

SD: What drove you to put in the long hours and learn the coaching profession?

RM: It’s really a matter of whatever it requires, what am I willing to do for the team? What needs to get done in order for us to have success offensively and as a team? It’s an understanding that the duties, this stuff has to get done for us to even have a shot.

SD: In addition to Coach Griffin, who were your early mentors?

RM: Definitely, (offensive coordinator) Blake Rolan. I always joke that I got a Microsoft Office degree from Blake. He showed me pretty much everything about making playbook drawings. Coach Hill was always so willing to let me do with it as much as I could. You only go so far as what you're willing to put in.

SD: Tell me about some of the scouting you do and the ideas it generates.

RM: We have Pro Football Focus software that gives you just about every college and pro game you want to look at. You hear it from coaches all the time about how everybody steals everybody's ideas. For us, it’s not throwing noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks. There are a couple offenses out there that really fit what we do, and then each week we’ll look and see how they’re wrinkling up a concept. How did they dress it up in the run game and how might we get to that? But you have to ask, how does this fit our offense as a whole? You can waste a lot of time of time looking at stuff that doesn't really fit us. You only have so much time in the day to be doing that, but if you can find 30 minutes a day to find different ideas, you keep a landscape of what people are doing across the country and can we implement them in some way.

SD: After several years as a grad assistant and quality control coach, talk about finally landing a job as a position coach after the 2024 season.

RM: There's only so many jobs that open up and there wasn't one here for me, and then Coach Rolan tells us he's leaving (for Wisconsin). It was mid-December, getting near Christmas-time. Coach Rolan texted me and called me, so I had known him leaving could be a possibility. I can still remember getting the call from Coach Hill. We know each other so well, it's been pretty seamless. It really fits like a glove. I just think for him, knowing we can work so well together and we already have, it just made it super easy. I think all the coaches have done a really good job. We all know what he expects and what our quarterback room expects. It's more just keeping it organized.

SD: Talk about the culture that Coach Hill sets with the coaching staff.

RM: He lets his coaches coach and is not all in your space. Coming in here as an 18-year-old, he didn't have to show me the ropes, but without him, I wouldn't know half the stuff that I do now. And it's more of just the culture he sets in the building. You don't have to walk on pins and needles if you're doing your job right. He sets the example getting your work done and enjoying each other's company.

SD: How is your first year as full-time QBs coach going?

RM: I’m leaning on Coach Hill and even DJ (Williams) and Jake (Curry) and Mike (Lindauer). You know, they've played way more quarterback than I ever have, and so, I think being a sounding board for them. I’ve learned a lot from Mike. He played a lot of high-level football, won multiple state championships. With plays and schemes and stuff like that, you just bank that in your head and find the things you like things, the things you don't like and try to piece it all together.

SD: What will your in-game role be?

RM: I’ll be up in the press box, eyes in the sky, relaying looks and staying in constant communication with Coach of what we're seeing, then also relaying that to DJ, too.