Morningside’s Steve Ryan was named the NAIA Region 4 Coach of the Year for the seventh time.

Morningside head football coach Steve Ryan was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) 2017 NAIA Region 4 Co-Coach of the Year along with Northwestern College head coach Matt McCarty.

Ryan is the NAIA Region 4 Coach of the Year for the fourth year in a row and for the seventh time in his career. He was the AFCA NAIA Region 4 Coach of the Year in 2005, 2011, 2012 and from 2014-17.

Ryan guided the Mustangs to a 13-1 record this past season, including a perfect 8-0 record in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) to win their seventh consecutive GPAC championship. The Mustangs made their 14th consecutive post-season appearance in the NAIA Championship Series for the longest active streak in the nation. Morningside advanced to the NAIA Championship Series Semifinals, where it lost 43-36 against No. 1-ranked and defending NAIA National Champion Saint Francis.

Ryan has a 155-40 record for a .795 winning percentage at Morningside for the most football coaching victories and the highest victory rate in Morningside history. He is a six-time GPAC Coach of the Year and was the 2004 NAIA Football.net National Coach of the Year.

Ryan, John Grass of Jacksonville State University, Chris Oliver of Lindsey Wilson College and Kevin Donley of the University of Saint Francis are all repeat winners as an AFCA region coach of the year.

The AFCA will announce the 2017 National Coach of the Year winners in FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA at the American Football Coaches Awards, presented by Amway, broadcast live on the USA TODAY Sports Facebook page on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. Central Time. The regional winners in each division are finalists for the National Coach of the Year.

The NAIA Region Coach of the Year award winners are Oliver for Region 1, Donley for Region 2, Larry Wilcox of Benedictine College for Region 3, Ryan and McCarty for Region 4 and Charlie Hall of Southern Oregon University for Region 5.