Oral Roberts University

Ryan Folmar enters his 14th season as head coach of the Golden Eagles. At ORU, he has posted a career record of 435-278-1 and is a seven-time Summit League Coach of the Year (2015, '16, '17, '18, '21, '23, '25). Prior to being tabbed head coach in 2013, Folmar served on the ORU coaching staff as an assistant for nine seasons.
 
During his tenure, Folmar has guided the Golden Eagles to seven Summit League regular season and tournament championships, seven NCAA Regional appearances, one NCAA Super Regional appearance and one NCAA College World Series appearance. As head coach, Folmar has overseen the development of five Summit League Players of the Year, seven Newcomers of the Year, eight Pitchers of the Year, nine All-Americans, 31 MLB Draft picks and more than 100 all-conference selections.
 
In his 13th season as head coach, Folmar led the Golden Eagles to a 37-22 overall record and a co-regular season title with a 21-9 mark in Summit League play. ORU had eight all-conference honorees, highlighted by Folmar’s seventh Coach of the Year award and Newcomer of the Year Easton Teel.
 
Teel ended the 2025 season with a league-best seven wins and a 2.95 ERA while holding opponents to a .240 batting average. On the mound, the Golden Eagles led the league in ERA (4.91), hits allowed per nine innings (9.65), shutouts (3), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.13), WHIP (1.46) and walks allowed per nine innings (3.48).
 
At the plate, ORU led the Summit League with a .282 batting average and also topped the league in doubles (99), hits (575), home runs (70), runs (361) and slugging percentage (.437). Cooper Combs’ 18 doubles were a league best, while Will Edmunson ranked second with eight triples.
 
In 2024, Folmar led the Golden Eagles to a 27-32-1 record, including a 13-15-1 mark in league play. ORU entered the Summit League Championship as the No. 4 seed and battled back to win the tournament title and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, competing in the Normal Regional.
 
The Golden Eagles finished the season leading the league in numerous statistical categories, including walks (291), double plays (36), doubles (95), ERA (5.72), hits (554), runs (380), stolen bases (62), WHIP (1.47) and walks allowed per nine innings (4.17). Individually, Jakob Hall led the league and ranked in the top 25 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.24), strikeouts (110), wins (10), WHIP (1.13) and walks allowed per nine innings (1.77). Holden Breeze led the league in batting average (.345) and hits (79), while Elijah Rodriguez’s 17 stolen bases were a Summit League best.
 
ORU had six All-Summit League selections in 2024, including Pitcher of the Year Jakob Hall. Two players– Hall and Brooks Fowler– were selected in the 2024 MLB Draft.
 
In his 11th season at the helm in 2023, Folmar led the Golden Eagles to a 52-14 record and their first College World Series appearance since 1978. The 52 victories set a new DI-era program record and marked the first 50-win season since 2004. Over their final 48 games, ORU went 42-6 and set a DI-era program record with 21 consecutive wins from April 23 to June 4. The Golden Eagles also went a perfect 6-0 against midweek foes Oklahoma State and Wichita State, marking the first time they accomplished the feat since 2006.
 
Folmar, who was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Mike Martin National Coach of the Year, guided ORU to its 20th Summit League regular season title, 21st Summit League Tournament Championship, 30th NCAA Regional appearance and a No. 5 national ranking by Collegiate Baseball, matching the highest in program history. The ORU skipper coached a league-best 13 All-League members, including Player/Newcomer of the Year Jonah Cox, Pitcher of the Year Cade Denton and Defensive Player of the Year Mac McCroskey.
 
Under Folmar’s tutelage, ORU had three players named All-Americans (Cox, Denton and Matt Hogan) for the first time since 1999. Denton, who was named the NCBWA Stopper of the Year, became only the third player in program history to earn All-America honors in back-to-back seasons. Cox and Denton also became the first Golden Eagles since Mark Serrano in 2009 to earn multiple All-America honors in a single season.
 
In the 2023 MLB Draft, ORU had four players selected: Cox, Denton, Jacob Widener and McCroskey. Three of the four were taken inside the top 10 rounds, the most since 1981.
 
ORU led the league in 23 statistical categories while ranking in the top 10 nationally in fielding percentage (1st), winning percentage (2nd), hits (2nd), batting average (7th), ERA (7th), WHIP (7th) and runs (9th). The Golden Eagles finished the season as the only team in the country ranked inside the top 10 in batting average, ERA and fielding percentage. Under Folmar’s development, Cox– a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy– led the nation in hits and set both the program and Summit League single-season record with 114.
 
Against ranked opponents in 2023, Folmar guided ORU to a 7-3 record. The Golden Eagles entered the Top 25 (Collegiate Baseball) for the first time since 2011 on May 1 and finished the season ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since 1983.
 
On June 4, 2023, Folmar moved into second place on the program’s all-time wins list as ORU defeated No. 14 Dallas Baptist, 6-5, to claim the Stillwater Regional title.
 
In 2022, the Golden Eagles returned to an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2018 after capturing their 20th Summit League Championship. Folmar guided ORU to a 38-20 overall record and coached nine All-Summit League players, including 2022 Pitcher of the Year Legend Smith. The Golden Eagles finished the season as the only program with road wins over multiple top-three opponents and one of only two teams to record victories over the two College World Series finalists (Ole Miss and Oklahoma).
 
ORU went 12-4 in May en route to the 26th conference tournament championship in program history. On May 2, 2022, Folmar led the Golden Eagles to a 7-3 road win at Air Force, marking the 2,000th victory in program history.
 
On April 15, 2022, Folmar earned his 300th career victory with a 6-4 win at Western Illinois, becoming the fourth head coach in program history to reach the milestone.
 
In 2021, the Golden Eagles returned to the top of the Summit League standings to claim the regular season championship. After posting a 31-23 overall record and 19-7 league mark, Folmar was named Summit League Coach of the Year by his peers. ORU took two of three at No. 8 LSU and at Dallas Baptist in back-to-back weekends before winning eight of its final 10 regular season games to secure the title.
 
Folmar led the Golden Eagles to their 18th consecutive regular season title and 19th straight tournament title as members of the Summit League in 2018, finishing 38-20 overall and earning Summit League Coach of the Year honors. ORU advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the 28th time in program history. He picked up his first NCAA victory in 2017, a 14-6 elimination-game win over in-state rival Oklahoma State.
 
The Golden Eagles swept the Summit League’s postseason awards again in 2018 as Noah Cummings (Player of the Year) and Miguel Ausua (Pitcher of the Year) earned the honors for the second straight year, while Riley Keizor was named Newcomer of the Year.
 
In 2017, Dylan Snypes (Newcomer of the Year) joined Cummings and Ausua among the Summit League’s postseason award winners. Ausua and Cummings were named to the 2017 NCBWA All-America Team, becoming the first ORU players since 2015 to earn the distinction, while Matt Whatley was named the Johnny Bench Award winner as the nation’s top collegiate catcher.
 
On March 10, 2020, Folmar became the fourth coach in program history to reach 250 career wins with a 2-0 shutout of Missouri State. He earned his 200th win at ORU on April 21, 2018, with an 8-1 victory over South Dakota State and his 100th win on March 4, 2016, with a 14-5 victory over Little Rock.
 
In 2016, ORU went 38-21 en route to Summit League regular season and tournament championships before advancing to the NCAA Regionals. The Golden Eagles finished the regular season 4-1 against Big 12 opponents with wins over Oklahoma, Kansas State and a home-and-home sweep of Oklahoma State, and added road victories over SEC members Auburn and Mississippi State.
 
The 2015 season proved to be a defining year for Folmar, as he led the Golden Eagles to their first postseason appearance in three seasons with a 41-16 overall record and 25-5 mark in Summit League play. ORU went 5-1 against the Big 12, earning road wins over Oklahoma, No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 10 Oklahoma State, and adding home wins over the Cowboys and Red Raiders at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
 
Anthony Sequeira and Matt Whatley led the charge in 2015. Sequeira was named a finalist for the John Olerud Award, presented to the nation’s top two-way player, while Whatley earned Freshman All-America honors from four publications, including Perfect Game USA, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com and Baseball America.
 
In 2014, Folmar led the Golden Eagles to a 30-26 overall record, including a 15-15 mark in Southland Conference play, highlighted by a home victory over No. 8 Oklahoma State and a two-game season sweep of No. 28 Oklahoma.
 
In his first season as head coach in 2013, the Golden Eagles finished two wins shy of a Southland Conference Tournament championship and posted a 25-32 overall record, including a 16-11 league mark. ORU recorded its first-ever three-game sweep of a ranked opponent by taking three from No. 23 Central Arkansas.
 
During that inaugural season, Alex Gonzalez finished second nationally in strikeouts with 126 and earned Second Team All-America honors from Perfect Game. Gonzalez was later selected No. 23 overall by the Texas Rangers in the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
 
Before taking the reins as head coach at ORU, Folmar spent nine seasons on staff developing a reputation as one of the finest hitting instructors in college baseball. The Golden Eagles won the Summit League Championship in each of those nine seasons and advanced to NCAA Regional play every year.
 
ORU advanced to the NCAA Super Regional round in 2006, finishing the season ranked in the top 25 in every major college baseball poll. Folmar’s offense was the backbone of the squad, finishing in the top 20 nationally in batting average, runs scored and slugging percentage.
 
Folmar also mentored freshman third baseman Ryan Trevino into one of the nation’s top young players, as Trevino earned Summit League Newcomer of the Year honors and two Freshman All-America nods in 2012.
 
Folmar joined the Golden Eagles after spending five seasons (1999-2003) as Director of Baseball Operations at Oklahoma State. He handled various administrative duties, including overseeing baseball camps, and served as the color analyst on OSU radio broadcasts for three years.
 
A four-year letterwinner at Oklahoma State from 1994-97, Folmar earned honorable mention All-Big 8 honors as a sophomore in 1995 and helped lead the Cowboys to the 1996 College World Series. Following his playing career, the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, native spent two seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization.
 
Folmar and his wife, Kay Lynn, have three children: Kade, Reese and Luke.