Norman North’s Rainer joins Sooners as assistant coach
NORMAN — University of Oklahoma head men’s golf coach Ryan Hybl announced Tuesday that Ryan Rainer has been named the program’s assistant coach.
Rainer, a former standout golfer at the University of Kansas, joins the Sooners after two seasons as the head boys golf coach at Norman North High School. In January, an NCAA Division I Council decision increased the number of countable coaches in select sports starting July 1.
“We could not be more thrilled to add Ryan Rainer to our staff, and we’re excited about what he’ll bring to our program,” Hybl said. “The opportunity to add another coach continues to show our level of commitment to our golf program, and I’m so thankful for the support we have at Oklahoma.
“Coach Rainer led Norman North to a 6A state championship and has worked four years of camp for our program. He developed that program into one of the best in the state and it shows through his accolades. I’ve seen first-hand how detailed he is, and I know he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help our program move forward.”
Rainer spent the last two seasons as the head coach of Norman North, leading the Timberwolves to the 2022 Oklahoma 6A state title, the first ever for a Norman team. In 2023, Rainer led his squad to a third-place finish at the state tournament. In his two years as head coach, Rainer’s teams combined to win two regional championships and 12 tournaments while producing two all-state players and four all-conference selections. One of those honorees, Jake Hopper, will be a redshirt freshman at OU this season. Rainer was named the 2022 OSSAA Golf Coach of the Year in addition to earning local and conference coach-of-the-year accolades the same season.
Before being elevated to head coach before the 2021-22 season, he was a volunteer assistant under then-head coach Josh Gorzney, who is now head women’s golf coach at Oklahoma City University.
“I’m incredibly honored and excited to be joining coach Hybl and (associate head) coach (Jonathan) Moore at Oklahoma,” Rainer said. “Coach Hybl and coach Moore are incredibly talented leaders with a wealth of experience and knowledge in golf and life, and the three of us share a passion to work hard and make a difference in the student-athletes’ lives while here on campus and beyond.”
Rainer was a standout player and four-year letterwinner at Kansas from 2002-06 for the late Ross Randall. He was named to the Big 12 Academic All-Conference Team twice and was selected to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll nine times. In his collegiate career, he appeared in 18 events for the Jayhawks, notching career-best finishes of T9 at the 2002 Kansas Invitational and 2003 Cleveland Golf Collegiate Championship. A product of Norman, Rainer attended Norman North High School and was the Oklahoma Class 6A state champion in 2001.
Following his collegiate career, Rainer spent several years working in the private sector, primarily in the oil and gas industry. He started his own company, RMR Construction, a single-family home-building company based in Norman.
A Sooner fan all his life, Rainer’s parents are both OU graduates and his great-grandmother, Katharyn Osterhaus, was married to James S. Buchanan, the fourth president of the University of Oklahoma.
Rainer and his wife, Amanda, have a daughter, Piper, and reside in Norman.