Ryan Baumgartner is the assistant volleyball coach and head equipment manager for the Simpson College volleyball team.

Baumgartner has been a long time fan of coaching and enjoys being at Simpson.

“Coaching at the Division III level is what I did in college,” Baumgartner said. “I enjoyed working with student -athletes. I also enjoy helping a student grow as an entire person not just a great volleyball player.”

Choosing Simpson as the place where he wanted to begin his career was not a hard choice.

“Simpson is very similar to Carthage, and while I was attending school I also coached the women’s program,” Baumgartner said.

Baumgartner has had a long family line of coaching and athletic careers, so it was a pretty easy decision for him to get involved as well.

“My father played in college, and my cousin is Lloy Ball, the starting setter for the USA Olympic team,” Baumgartner said. “I guess I didn’t have a choice.”

Would you rather be able to read someone’s mind or always know their future?

I guess knowing their future, because if I could read everyone’s mind all the time, I might hear things I didn’t want to. I could also stay close to those I know aren’t going to make it and get into their will. Not to mention a great recruiting tool!

Would you rather be an unknown minor league basketball player or a famous professional badminton star?

This is an easy one, pro badminton player. The world needs to see how sweet badminton is. Olympics here I come!