Coaching Staff

Ryan McCarthy, Head Coach

Record at UAA: 160-31 (.838), 6 seasons
Career Head Coaching Record: 174-44 (.798), 7 seasons

One of the brightest coaching talents in the NCAA ranks, Ryan McCarthy is in his seventh year at the helm of the Alaska Anchorage program in 2018-19, having already taken the Seawolves to unprecedented heights.

An Anchorage native, McCarthy has led his hometown program to the second-most wins and second-best winning percentage in NCAA Div. II over the past four campaigns with a 124-12 record, capturing four Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season and three postseason tournament titles. UAA has also ascended to No. 1 in the national poll for eight weeks and reached the 2016 NCAA National Title Game.

Following a 29-2 campaign in 2014-15, UAA recorded a 38-3 mark in 2015-16 to set a new NCAA Div. II standard for victories in a season – among five NCAA records broken by that year’s club. In 2016-17, McCarthy repeated as the NCAA Div. II West Region Coach of the Year and was the GNAC Coach of the Year, piloting UAA to a 30-2 overall record and the first 20-0 GNAC campaign in league history.

Most recently, McCarthy took a Seawolf team that had lost four starters and earned a 27-5 record and repeat GNAC Coach of the Year honors. The 2017-18 Seawolves went 18-2 in the GNAC to tie for their fourth straight league title, won the GCI Great Alaska Shootout with two victories over Div. I programs, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament ‘Sweet 16’ for the second time under McCarthy.

Playing his program’s signature up-tempo ‘Mayhem’ style, the Seawolves led NCAA Div. II in steals per game for four straight seasons from 2013-14 to 2016-17, while regularly producing top-5 ranks in scoring margin, scoring offense, scoring defense, assists, turnovers forced and turnover margin.

After taking the reins in 2012, McCarthy’s teams improved their overall victory total (17, 19, 29, 38) for four straight seasons and their GNAC victory total (11, 12, 17, 18, 20) for five straight years – figures that don’t even include an exhibition road win over Pacific-12 Conference foe Utah and a home exhibition win over D-I Tulsa..

In 2013-14, McCarthy’s Seawolves finished 19-9 overall and made the NCAA playoffs for the first time under his leadership. UAA led the nation with 14.3 steals per game and was the highest-scoring team in the GNAC at nearly 80 points per contest.

Despite a shortened roster, McCarthy’s first Seawolf squad rallied for a seven-game win streak to close the 2012-13 regular season at 17-10 overall and a 3rd-place tie in the final GNAC standings at 11-7.

In six seasons under McCarthy, the Seawolves have produced 13 1st- or 2nd-team All-GNAC honorees, 19 Academic All-GNAC performers, and seen five players ascend to the professional ranks. Team-wise, UAA has posted victories over six NCAA Div. I teams, eight wins over NCAA Div. II nationally ranked teams, and an 8-5 NCAA Tournament record.

Prior to UAA, McCarthy spent five seasons at GNAC rival Northwest Nazarene from 2007-12. At NNU, he served as an assistant, interim head coach and associate head coach, helping the Crusaders to two NCAA Tournament berths and a .633 winning percentage.

In 2010-11, McCarthy stepped up as acting head coach and led the Crusaders to a 14-13 record and a bid to the inaugural GNAC Tournament. In 2011-12, McCarthy was named associate head coach and helped pilot NNU to an 18-10 season.

McCarthy played professionally for Tus Bramsche in Bramsche, Germany, in 2006-07, where he led the league in three-pointers and free throw percentage. He spent 2006 with the Central Oregon Hotshots of the International Basketball League, averaging 16 points, four assists and four rebounds per game.

A 4-year starter and 3-year captain for the Crusaders from 2002-06, McCarthy was NNU’s Orrin Hills Male Athlete of the Year for 2005-06. He ranks third in program history with 256 treys over his career, setting the then-GNAC single-season record with 102 three pointers in 2005-06. Overall he posted 1,161 career points for the Crusaders.

McCarthy graduated from NNU in 2006 with a B.S. in social science education. He is the father of two young children, Donovan and Aurora.



McCarthy played professionally for Tus Bramsche in Bramsche, Germany, in 2006-07, where he led the league in three-pointers and free throw percentage. He spent 2006 with the Central Oregon Hotshots of the International Basketball League, averaging 16 points, four assists and four rebounds per game.

A 4-year starter and 3-year captain for the Crusaders from 2002-06, McCarthy was NNU's Orrin Hills Male Athlete of the Year for 2005-06. He ranks third in program history with 256 treys over his career, setting the then-GNAC single-season record with 102 three pointers in 2005-06. Overall he posted 1,161 career points for the Crusaders.

McCarthy graduated from NNU in 2006 with a B.S. in social science education. He and his wife Jenny have two young children, Donovan and Aurora.

Shaina Afoa, Associate Head Coach

Associate head coach Shaina Afoa returns to the Seawolf coaching staff for her seventh season in 2018-19, and her fourth as the program’s top assistant.

Since joining Ryan McCarthy’s staff, the Anchorage native has helped the Seawolves to a 160-31 overall record, five straight NCAA Tournaments, four straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season titles and three GNAC Tournament titles.

On the heels of UAA’s NCAA ‘Sweet 16’ run and 27-5 mark last season, the Anchorage native was voted by her Women’s Basketball Coaches Assocation peers as the 2017-18 NCAA Div. II National Assistant Coach of the Year.

In Afoa’s first year as the lead assistant coach, UAA captured the 2015-16 NCAA West Region title and earned its first-ever berth in the National Title Game, while in 2016-17 she contributed to a record-breaking Seawolf squad that finished 30-2 and earned the first 20-0 league record in GNAC history. In March 2017 she was named to the prestigious Thirty Under 30 list of up-and-coming coaches by the WBCA.

In addition to administrative and recruiting duties, Afoa has been a key to the development and success of UAA’s post players, working with such recent all-league standouts as Alysa Horn, Hannah Wandersee and All-American Megan Mullings.

Afoa was a three-sport athlete at GNAC rival Central Washington from 2006-11, lettering four times in both basketball and track & field, plus once in volleyball.

A three-year starter at center, she finished No. 2 on the Wildcats’ career list for blocks with 126, plus fourth in rebounds (599), sixth in games started (79) and 10th in field-goal percentage (.461).

A graduate of Anchorage’s Dimond High School, Afoa earned her bachelor’s degree in Art/Graphic Design from CWU in 2011 and her graduate certificate in Human Services from UAA in 2014.

Kiki Robertson, Assistant Coach

One of the top players in Alaska Anchorage women’s basketball history returns to her alma mater as Kiki Robertson joins the Seawolf program as an assistant coach in 2021-22.

A four-time all-conference point guard, Robertson racked up school and Great Northwest Athletic Conference records of 700 assists, 382 steals, 128 games started and 116 victories at UAA from 2013-17. The Honolulu native was a two-time GNAC Defensive Player of the Year (2014-15, 2016-17) and GNAC Tournament MVP (2015, 2016), leading the Seawolves to four straight league titles and four straight NCAA Tournaments, including a national runner-up finish in 2015-16.

After graduating from UAA, Robertson played one year of professional basketball in Germany, suiting up for CityBasket Recklinghausen in 2017-18. She then moved on to become head coach at prep alma mater Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu from 2018-21.

Robertson earned her bachelor’s in health science from UAA with a minor in psychology in 2017.