After nearly two decades of coaching and teaching, Ryan Stuart is stepping away.

However, he’s not going away from the building that has given him lifelong memories.

Stuart has accepted an offer to be the new assistant principal at Salina South High School. Stuart replaces Scott Chrisman, who will be the principal at Lakewood Middle School. Stuart officially starts on July 1, 2021.

Almost 20 years ago, Stuart started his teaching career at Salina South Middle School. Four years later, Stuart became a business teacher at Salina South High School.

During his 15-year tenure as an educator at South High, Stuart was heavily involved with athletics, serving as a coach in girls basketball and girls/boys tennis. Earlier in March, Stuart wrapped up his 15th season on the girls basketball bench. Following seven years as an assistant, Stuart took over as head coach. Stuart was 56-114 in eight seasons as head coach, leading South to its first 10-win mark for the first time since 2012-13.

Back in the fall, Stuart completed his 14th season as girls tennis head coach. Throughout his time as head coach, Salina South had 24 individual state qualifiers with four top-five team finishes in the Class 5A state tournament. The Cougars placed in the top 10 eight different times, the highest in school history being a second-place mark in 2019. Salina South also claimed two AVCTL-I titles, the first league title in program history coming in 2016.

Stuart will have one more season of coaching this spring, his sixth leading the boys tennis squad. Salina South sent five individuals to state with two Class 5A top-10 team finishes during his time as head coach.