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Ryan Craven (right) is the new Marble Falls High School boys soccer head coach, which means continuing to be apart of Marble Falls Independent School District with his wife, Amanda, who is a teacher at Marble Falls High School and their son Brooks. Contributed photo -
Ryan Craven is continuing as the Mustangs defensive coordinator on the football team and accepted the job of boys soccer head coach beginning in the 2024-25 school year. Jennifer Fierro/TexasChalkTalk.com
Though a new Marble Falls High School boys soccer head coach will walk the sideline in 2025, he is not unfamiliar to the Mustangs.
Ryan Craven has been apart of the Marble Falls High School staff for four years and worked closely with former head coach Rick Hoover, especially during the 2024 season. That's when Hoover revealed there was a good chance he was done coaching and committed to helping Craven become more familiar with the responsibilities of being the head coach.
"I wasn't blindsided by any means," Craven said. "I tried to get coach Hoover to stay. One of the main reasons I decided I wanted the job was because I had that good relationship with coach Hoover. It's good to have that resource." Craven, who has spent the last 12 years coaching, understands firsthand what comes with being in a championship program. He played for the Dallas Texans club soccer team for five years as a defensive midfielder and outside back and was part of winning some national tournaments and titles. After graduating from Rockwall High School in 2007, he played football at Midwestern University as a safety. He chose American football over futbol for one big reason.
"I had more offers playing college football," he said. Before coming to Marble Falls, he worked at Georgetown East View, North Forney and Stephenville high schools. A big positive for the Marble Falls boys soccer program is that it fielded two junior varsity teams for several years. That ensured players could continue to develop by playing in beneficial matches that challenged them to be great. Craven said the sub varsities had about 45 players. A new district forces the new head coach to steer the program through realignment.
The Mustangs will join Bandera, Canyon Lake, Davenport, Fredericksburg and Wimberley in District 26-4A in 2025 and 2026.
"I don't like the travel distance," Craven said. "It'll take a lot longer to get to places. Those teams are all good, quality teams. We've played all those teams except Bandera. They're all really well coached." Marble Falls beat Wimberley in the playoffs the last two years and Davenport in a postseason warm-up match in 2024.
In addition to being the boys soccer head coach, Craven will continue to be the defensive coordinator on football head coach Keri Timmerman's staff, a position he's held for the last two years.
Craven is honored to take the reins of a program the community values and is passionate about.
"It's a great community and great support from the administration all the way down," he said. "Our kids are great. There's a lot of ability and talent. I want to keep the program going in the right direction to compete for state titles. It's great to be working with kids and this community. Hopefully we have a lot of success in soccer and football."
Jennifer Fierro publishes reports about area youth athletic events on her website TexasChalk-Talk.com. To send her a note, email fierrojennifer@yahoo.com.