Western Carolina University

Ryan Kolakowski joined the Catamount football support staff as the Director of Scouting / Video Coordinator in May 2020. From a football family, Kolakowski possesses nearly 10 years of experience at the collegiate level prior to coming to WCU.
 
Through his position, Kolakowski will work extensively with the football coaching staff, the director of football operations, and other football support staff with all video aspects of the football program. He will also assume social media roles in the online promotion of the team.
 
An Ohio native and 2011 graduate of Central Michigan, Kolakowski came to Cullowhee from Florida Atlantic University where he spent last season as the special teams quality control coach. Prior to making the move to Boca Raton, Fla., he briefly served as a defensive backs coach and the defensive passing game coordinator at Olivet College, a NCAA Division III program in Olivet, Mich., in the 2017 off-season.
 
Kolakowski received his start in collegiate football in July 2012 as a defensive assistant coach working with the outside linebackers at Muhlenberg College, a NCAA D-III school in Allentown, Pa. While at Muhlenberg, he also served as the defensive coordinator for the junior varsity squad. He parlayed that position into a job as a defensive assistant at Southern Conference-member, Mercer, in 2014.
 
His career path brought him to North Carolina mid-summer of 2014 as a defensive and special teams assistant at North Carolina Wesleyan in Rocky Mount before he returned to his alma mater, Central Michigan in March 2015 in a special teams and recruiting quality control capacity. His recruiting responsibilities included graphics design pertaining to the football program and its recruiting philosophies.
 
Kolakowski earned a second bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green in 2018 and is currently pursuing a MBA degree in sport management from Florida Atlantic.