WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Mark Ryal was tabbed as the second head coach of the Midwestern State softball program Tuesday afternoon.
 
Ryal served as a full-time assistant for Brady Tigert last season helping the Mustangs to a 30-28 overall record while mentoring the team to a .313 overall team average while scoring 6.1 runs per game.
 
The team slugged 57 home runs paced by LSC Player of the Year Katelyn Vinson, who hit .438 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs.
 
Ryal, who will serve in the interim capacity in 2017, brings 16 years of coaching experience to MSU having coached eight seasons at the NCAA Division I level including a one-year stint with Oklahoma State in 2015.
 
Prior to his time with the Cowgirls, Ryal spent one season as an assistant coach with the South Alabama Jaguars, helping the squad to a 42-14 record and season-best No. 11 ranking in the NFCA Coaches Poll. The Jaguars advanced all the way to the NCAA regional final before falling to national runner-up Alabama, 3-0. Ryal coached three Jaguars to All-Sun Belt Conference honors in his one season with the squad.
 
A native of Dewar, Okla., Ryal returned to the Sooner State to serve as head coach at Prague (Okla.) High School after five seasons as the hitting coach for the Auburn Tigers, seeing the Tigers offense record its fewest strikeouts in 13 years in his final season in 2012.
 
In 2011, Auburn ranked in both the ESPN and NFCA top-25 polls, spending 12 weeks in the NFCA poll with a season-high ranking of 21st. The Tigers also recorded their first-ever series win over a top-five program, taking two wins in a three-game series from No. 4 Georgia.
 
In his five seasons at Auburn, Ryal helped the Tigers to three consecutive NCAA regional appearances while coaching five All-Southeastern Conference players.
 
Prior to Auburn, Ryal served as the head coach for Carl Albert State College in Poteau, Okla., in 2007-08 after a four-year stint as head coach at Inola (Okla.) High School.
 
Ryal also spent one season as the hitting coach for the Oklahoma Sooners baseball team during their College World Series run in 1995.
 
Ryal made his Major League Baseball debut in 1982 with the Kansas City Royals after four years in the minor league system. He was drafted in the third round of the 1978 draft. Ryal spent time with the Chicago White Sox (1985), California Angels (1986-87), Philadelphia Phillies (1989) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1990) during his professional career. He also served one season as a scout for the Royals in 2005.
 
Ryal hit .375 in 13 appearances to help the Angels to an American League Western Division title in 1986. In his final MLB season, Ryal helped the Pirates to a National League Eastern Division title in 1990.
 
Ryal earned his bachelor's degree from East Central University (Okla.) in 1997.
 
He and his wife, Renae, have three children – Rusty, Kacie and Karlie. Rusty was a two-year letter winner for the Oklahoma State baseball team from 2004-05 and was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005, making his MLB debut on Aug. 10, 2009. Kacie played shortstop for three years at Auburn-Montgomery, helping the Warhawks to a NAIA World Series semifinal appearance in 2012.