 From a young age , Ryan aspired to follow in his father 's footsteps and become a professional football coach . After spending the majority of his youth in Canada , Ryan returned to the United States as a teenager where he attended college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University . Upon graduating Ryan spent the next 22 years serving as an assistant coach on different teams at both the college and professional level . At the behest of their head coach Brian Billick , Ryan joined the Baltimore Ravens in 1999 and spent nine years there . In 2005 he became the defensive coordinator , and in 2008 the assistant head coach . 
