Ryan Jacobs enters his second season at the helm of the University of Northern Iowa softball team, but Jacobs is no stranger to Panther athletics.  The Cedar Rapids native played two seasons for UNI's baseball team, from 1997 to 1998, helping the Panthers to a then-school record 32 wins and a 2nd-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference.

During his first year as head coach, Jacobs led the Panthers to a blistering 7-1 record to start the season before cooling off and finishing with a 20-28 overall record and a 5-16 conference mark.  Jacobs also helped the Panthers improve their overall winning percentage from .373 (19-32 overall) in 2007 to .416 (20-28 overall) in 2008, and improve one spot in the Valley standings.

During the non-conference slate, the Panthers snapped Nebraska's 44-game non-conference home winning streak with a 2-1 win; topped Minnesota, 6-4; and beat Wisconsin, 3-0.  In conference play, the Panthers just missed qualifying for the eight-team Missouri Valley Conference Tournament after finishing ninth in the league.

The Panthers set a school record for team fielding percentage during Jacobs' first year after compiling a .971 fielding percentage, topping the previous school record of .961 set in 2001.  Jacobs' squad only committed 41 errors, shattering the previous mark of 52 errors committed in a season back in 1998.

Jacobs served as the head softball coach at Cedar Falls High School (CFHS) from 2004 to 2007, guiding the Tigers to a 108-62-2 cumulative record.  In 2007, the Tigers' squad finished with a 32-10 mark--the second-best in school history--and was ranked as high as fifth in Iowa's Class 4A.  In Jacobs' tenure at CFHS, he guided six first-team All-Mississippi Valley Conference players, including one conference player of the year, five first-team all-district players and four all-state players.

After a season of playing professional baseball for the Richmond Roosters of the Frontier League, and assistant baseball coaching stints at Cornell College and Cedar Rapids Xavier High School, Jacobs returned to Cedar Falls and UNI in 2001.  He served as an assistant coach on the Panther baseball staff, specializing in coaching the catchers and hitters.  He also coordinated Panther camps and clinics and served as the team's first-base coach.  UNI recorded an average of 29 wins per season while Jacobs was on staff, including a school-record 35 victories and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2001.

Jacobs' coaching philosophy revolves around pushing players to their maximum potential and being able to outwork the opposing team.  Jacobs looks to focus on playing the game "the right way" and hustling to outplay opponents.

Jacobs was a standout prep baseball player at Cedar Rapids Regis High School, being named both Mississippi Valley Conference Player of the Year and the Iowa Legion Player of the Year in 1994.

Jacobs and his wife Kelley, a UNI assistant women's basketball coach, reside in Cedar Falls with their two daughters, Haley (3) and Emma (1).