A native of Frederick, OK and an army sergeant who saw action in Korea, Ryan joined Weeb Ewbank’s staff as a defensive line coach in 1968. In Ryan’s first season, the Jets led the AFL in both total defense and rush defense.
“When I first got there, Al Atkinson, our middle linebacker, said we need to get a strong defense because they were last in the league in run defense,” Ryan said. “At the end of the ‘68 season, we had the No. 1 run defense in the AFL and Al Atkinson had a lot to do with it along with our front four.