[2] University of Florida athletic director Ray Graves and associate athletic director Ruth H. Alexander had made the strategic decision to embrace Title IX, the new federal law requiring equal opportunities for women in U.S. college sports.
[4] Among the first programs started was the new Lady Gators women's golf program, and Ryan was recruited to start it from scratch—first as an intercollegiate club team in 1969, and then to elevate it as a varsity team in Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) competition in 1973.
[5] In the Lady Gators' first year as a varsity sports team, Ryan's Gators finished seventh at the AIAW national championship tournament, beginning a streak of nineteen consecutive top-ten finishes in the AIAW and NCAA national championship tournaments.
[2] For the first time in NCAA history, all five starting members of her 1986 team were recognized as All-Americans,[8] including senior team captain Lisa Stanley, freshmen Cheryl Morley and Lisa Nedoba, junior Page Dunlap, who won the 1986 NCAA individual championship, and sophomore Karen Davies, who won the 1986 SEC individual championship.
[8] Ryan was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "Honorary Letter Winner" in 1996.