Ryan Daniel Silverfield (born August 4, 1980) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. He is the head football coach for the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

, a position he has held since 2020. Silverfield has spent most of his coaching career, which began during his senior year of high school, as either a line coach or a member of the offensive staff. He was hired at Memphis by then-head coach

Mike Norvell Michael Kelly Norvell (born October 11, 1981) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for Florida State, a position he has held since 2020. He was previously head coach at Memphis, and has coached for Arizona State ...

prior to the 2016 season. After Norvell's departure to

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

on December 8, 2019, Silverfield served as the interim head coach before being promoted to head coach on December 28, 2019.

Playing career

Silverfield played for

The Bolles School The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jackso ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

for four years, winning state championships in 1995 and 1998. He then joined the coaching staff as an assistant for the 1999 season, ending his playing career. Silverfield is therefore notable as one of the only coaches in the FBS ranks to have never played college football.

Coaching career

Silverfield landed his first college coaching job during his freshman year at

Hampden–Sydney College Hampden–Sydney College (H-SC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Men's colleges in the United States, college for men in Hampden Sydney, Virginia. Founded in 1775, it is the oldest privatel ...

; he opted to coach for his four years in college rather than play. He served as an offensive assistant for one year, then as the defensive line coach for his sophomore and junior years, and as the tight ends coach for his senior year. For the 2004 season, he served as the head coach at Memorial Day High School in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, whom he led to a 1–9 record. He then rejoined the college coaching ranks, as he served as the quarterbacks coach at

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonvill ...

for one year and a graduate assistant at UCF for two, before joining the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

staff, where he remained for six years in various positions. Following a one-year stint at

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

, he took a position as an offensive analyst at

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

, though he left part of the way through the season to join the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

staff as an offensive line coach. After the conclusion of the 2015 season, he was hired at Memphis by

as an assistant. He remained in that position for two years before being tapped as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2018. He was elevated to assistant head coach in 2019, and was named interim head coach when Norvell left to take the head coach position at

. On December 13, Silverfield was promoted to head coach and debuted in his first college game as head coach on December 28 against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in the

2019 Cotton Bowl Classic The 2019 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2019, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. local CST) on ESPN. It was the 84th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic, and was one of the 2019–2 ...

Personal life

Silverfield has two dogs, Sadee and Cooper.

Head coaching record

High school

College

References

External links

Memphis profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverfield, Ryan 1980 births Living people Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Detroit Lions coaches Hampden–Sydney College alumni Hampden–Sydney Tigers football coaches Jacksonville Dolphins football coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches Toledo Rockets football coaches UCF Knights football coaches High school football coaches in Florida High school football coaches in Georgia (U.S. state)