In 24 years at the helm of the Auburn track and field program, Ralph Spry has established himself as one of the most successful coaches in the history of the program and Auburn Athletics. During his tenure he has won a national championship while guiding the men’s and women’s programs to a combined 14 top-five national finishes and 53 top 25 finishes. Spry was named the 2006 Division I Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year for leading the program to its first national championship that season.
While on the Plains, Spry has coached 21 individuals who have won a combined 32 national championships, including 19 NCAA Outdoor Champions and 13 NCAA Indoor Champions. In the program’s illustrious history, Spry’s athletes have won 32 of the 55 individual national titles obtained in its 100-year history. A total of 419 All-America honors have been earned under Spry’s leadership including a program-best 31 during the 2005 season.
He has coached 27 Olympians, including Kerron Stewart who won the 100m silver medal and 200m bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Under his tutelage, six athletes have been World Championship performers including 2001 400m champion Avard Moncur, 2007 high jump champion Donald Thomas and Stewart, a 2009 4x100m relay champion.
When Spry led the women’s program to its first national championship in 2006, he was just the third Auburn coach ever to win a national championship and is one of six coaches in Auburn Athletics history to capture a national title.
In 2021, the Auburn women finished No. 10 nationally indoors behind a national championship performance by Joyce Kimeli in the 5000m, the first distance national champion while outdoors, the men finished tied for 18th.
The 2010 Tigers posted three top-12 finishes at NCAA meets, including a sixth-place finish by the women at the NCAA indoor meet. The 2010 season capped a string of 12 straight years that Auburn had at least one individual national champion.
Spry led the Auburn men to a second-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor National Championships, marking the sixth time Auburn has finished in the top three in the nation under Spry.
One of Spry’s best all-around seasons came in 2007 when he led Auburn’s men to a third-place finish at the NCAA outdoor meet, and a fifth-place performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships, while the women also finished fifth at the indoor meet. Auburn produced national champions in six events and earned 15 All-America honors. The season was capped by Stewart earning the Honda Sports Award as the nation’s top female collegiate track and field athlete.
In 2006, he earned a national championship when the Auburn women’s team took home the NCAA outdoor title. The Tigers scored 57 points to easily outdistance USC, which placed second with 38.5 points. Auburn had All-America performances in nine events, including two individual national champions and three second-place finishers, and broke two school records during the four-day event.
In addition to a fourth-place men’s indoor finish in 2005, Spry came close to a pair of national titles in 2003, as the men finished second at both the indoor and outdoor meets, tying for the highest finish indoors and outdoors for the Auburn men.
His men’s team was third at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships and fourth at the 1999 outdoor meet.
Spry was hired to be the fourth track and field coach in Auburn history in late 1997. Prior to his appointment at Auburn, Spry had spent the previous two years at the University of South Carolina as an assistant coach.
A native of Aberdeen, Maryland, Spry came to the Plains with five years of experience. He served as an assistant coach at three different Southeastern Conference schools before accepting the head coaching position at Auburn.
Spry was one of the top graduates in his class at the University of Mississippi where he earned a degree in Physical Education in 1984. He served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater under the tutelage of Joe Walker for one year. On September 13, 2003, Spry was honored by the University of Mississippi athletic department by being inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Spry, who had been active in the R.O.T.C at Mississippi, accepted a commission in the U.S. Army after his graduation.
While he served his country, Spry also competed for the All-Army track and field team. As an officer in the U.S. Army, he was a member, and an assistant coach on the All-Army track team that won the Armed Forces Championship during his time with the team. He won five Interservice long jump championships, and in 1986 was the World Military long jump champion.
He was eventually invited to participate in the Army’s World Class Athletic Training Program. As a member of the program, he was allowed to choose with whom he would train.
Spry chose to go to the University of Florida to train with his former coach, Joe Walker. While at Florida, Spry served as a volunteer coach for the Gator track team as he trained for the Olympic Trials in which he competed in 1988.
After attending the Army’s Ranger school in 1989, Spry served as Company Commander in the 9th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. It was during this time that Spry realized that he would soon be ending his Army career.
After leaving active duty, Spry was hired as an assistant at the University of Florida in 1992, and within the next two years he coached seven Florida athletes to 10 All-American honors and eight to All-SEC awards. Included in those were three freshmen, most notably Dominick Millner.
Millner finished fourth at the 1995 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the long jump and had the longest collegiate long jump by a freshman indoors that year. He was also the Junior National Champion in the long jump in 1995.
Another athlete at Florida to excel under the leadership of Spry was Dion Bentley. Bentley achieved a sixth-place ranking in the U.S. and a ninth-place ranking worldwide in 1993.
In 1995, Spry moved to the University of South Carolina as an assistant coach and continued to build championship caliber athletes as a Gamecock.
In his first season at USC, Gamecock athletes training under Spry broke 19 school records. Spry’s athletes garnered eight more All-Americans honors and Marvin Watts won two SEC titles in the 800m. Watts was the first conference champion in track in South Carolina history.
After winning two state high school championships in the long jump and triple jump in Maryland, Spry attended Anne Arundel Community College. While in junior college, he was four-time NJCAA champion, winning three triple jump crowns and one long jump title. He was an eight-time JUCO All-American and is now a member of the NJCAA Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Spry transferred to the University of Mississippi, where he became the first Ole Miss track and field athlete to receive All-American and national champion status. He was a two-time NCAA All-American, a three-time All-SEC performer, the 1983 NCAA Long Jump Champion and 1983 SEC Long Jump Champion. In 1983, he was ranked fifth in the United States and seventh in the world in the long jump by Track and Field News.
Spry and his wife Anne have two children, Tiffany and Ralph Jr.