Stys is Hartford’s Kind of Player
Larry Harrison remembers the days when people told him that Ryan Stys would never play for him at Hartford, where he had just taken the head coaching position. Four years later, it seems hard to believe.
Stys is finishing up a career where he will graduate as the program’s all-time leader in games played, a record he will break in the Hawks’ first America East Tournament game, as that will be the 117th of his career. He will also finish in the top ten all-time in scoring and assists, and in the top five in steals.
“They said he would never play for me, that he wasn’t good enough,” Harrison recalls.
Harrison has stabilized the program in his four years at the school, and players like Stys have made his job easy. Stys has never missed a practice in his career, only missing a shoot-around earlier this season for a job interview. His work ethic is unquestioned, and he has matured the way his coach wanted him to. It all makes him the epitome of the “program guy” many coaches talk about: not a player bound for pro basketball success after his college years are over, not an All-American, but a good player who represents the school well on and off the court.
“He’s a signature of what I want my program to be like,” Harrison reflects. “He’s what a student-athlete is all about.”
Stys says he didn’t consider going elsewhere after the coaching change was made. The native of Hooksett, New Hampshire came to Hartford for the school more than the coach, feeling it was a good fit academically and the right level of basketball for him.
As a freshman, Stys was the team’s second-leading scorer and led the team in assists en route to being named to the America East All-Rookie team. It was one of the best years ever for a freshman at the school, but the Hawks went 4-24, the worst record in the program’s Division I history, and it weighed on Stys a little.
“We didn’t expect to go in and lose the amount of games we did,” Stys said. “But we knew with the new coach that the experience would help us.”
The next year, it helped. The Hawks won ten more games and finished third in the conference before losing to Boston University on a last-second shot in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Stys wasn’t the main scorer, as he had plenty of help, and he was happy with that. He doesn’t prefer having to be the main scorer, instead liking to set up others, but he has responded when needed in his career. His scoring dropped the last two years, but his assist/turnover ratio improved both years, posting a 2.3 ratio last season.
This season, the three-year co-captain has had to carry more of a load, especially when classmate Jerell Parker went down for the season in January. He has needed to be the second scoring option alongside talented sophomore Aaron Cook, and he has needed to play a lot of minutes. The minutes have taken a little toll on him, as he’s had nagging injuries that haven’t shown up before, but he keeps playing through them and playing well. Harrison isn’t surprised, as he describes Stys as a “no nonsense, aggressive guy”.
On December 28, Stys became the 19th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points, and he did it at a good time. His layup with under one second left gave the Hawks a 68-66 victory over Sam Houston State at the FIU Holiday Classic. He finished the game with a career-high 26 points as well, one of six times this season he has topped 20 points – four more times than he had done that his entire career prior to this season.
“It was a nice achievement, to see all the hard work pay off,” Stys says of reaching the milestone.
The player Harrison describes as “the rock of our program” has had four good years off the court as well. He’s enjoyed the school and has gained a great deal, making a lot of friends among students and adults who have helped him out. A finance major, he carries a 3.3 grade point average, and Harrison had an idea for him after this season before Stys told him his plans.
Harrison feels Stys would make a great coach and wanted him as the team’s graduate assistant next year. Then he told the coach he was applying to law school, with schools including Connecticut, Suffolk, Northeastern, and Boston University. Although he would have liked having Stys next year, he wishes Ryan nothing but the best and feels he is well-prepared for it.
“It’s the same prep as you go to trial as in playing a basketball game,” Harrison says.
The young man many thought would never play at Hartford is finishing a solid career, and preparing for success in his career after college while he’s at it.
