UCA Athletics lost a former coach on Sunday in Ryan Strong, who began the UCA men's soccer program in 1996 and was the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year in 1997. He spent three seasons as head coach at UCA from '96-'98, compiling winning records in the program's second and third years of existence.

He and his wife Lorna, the former head athletic trainer at UCA, have lived in Amarillo, Texas since 2000 with their two sons, Luke and Samuel. Strong died of an unknown illness. He was most recently the head soccer coach at Randall High School in Canyon, Texas.