Picture courtesy of Ryan Zenor with his dog Kato
(Greenfield, IA) — By day he is chasing criminals as the Supervisor of the K-9 unit in the Iowa State Patrol. By night he is coaching softball for Nodaway Valley High School. Summer is a busy time for Sgt. Ryan Zenor who has been co-coach of the Wolverines along with Brian Eisbach.
Zenor is a third generational police officer — his grandfather is Billy Zenor from Red Oak who was a state trooper for 38 years and his Uncle Craig Zenor of Underwood was a state trooper for 36 years. In 2017, Ryan Zenor became the Supervisor of the K-9 unit in the entire state — he oversees dogs located in Lisbon, Mason City, Council Bluffs, Iowa Falls and his dogs based in Des Moines. That means a commute each and every day from Greenfield getting to work at 5 am. Zenor is in charge of training each dog and the process takes 8-10 weeks to get them ready for the field and there seems some similarities to expectations with his players
Three years ago, Nodaway Valley needed a softball coach and Zenor joined with his friend Eisbach who is also the Girls Basketball Coach at Nodaway Valley to take the job. He says his leadership skills in the Iowa State Patrol helped him for that job and he has been able to juggle both
Zenor is on call 24 hours a day, the phone is never turned off, he says there have been times when he has to take important calls during softball games
Zenor started coaching softball when his daughter was in 2nd grade and there’s a reason why he puts in so many hours in the summer
Zenor says in his 20 years of being a cop he has been in some hairy situations but he has never lost a K-9 in the line of duty but he has seen many changes in how he and his fellow officers have been treated for doing what he loves
Zenor says the goal going forward is to improve — improve the police unit, improve the softball team. He says his wife Stacey runs the house during the summer and he couldn’t work as a cop and a coach without her. Nodaway Valley will compete in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs on Monday.
Complete Interview with Sgt. Ryan Zenor
