Mikes get their man, and his name is familiar
When Ryan Krull resigned from his job as head football coach at Carmichaels High School in 2019, he said it was because he was following a gut feeling.
But he left open the option of coming back to coaching one day.
That day came last month, when Krull decided to return to the Mikes as head football coach.
“My plan was to serve our student-athletes as athletic director,” Krull said. “That ended up falling through. Sometimes, when God closes one door, he opens another. And this opportunity has presented itself and it’s my intention to take full advantage of this opportunity.”
The first time Krull left was after a nine-year stay at Carmichaels. The Mikes were competing in Class 2A at the time and failed to advance to the playoffs the past two years.
Krull replaced longtime Carmichaels coach John Menhart prior to the 2013 season. In the last seven seasons, the Mikes had gone 37-31, made the Class A playoffs four times and have one playoff win.
When Krull left in 2019, the district’s board promoted Mikes’ defensive coordinator Ron Gallagher to the head coach position. When Gallagher left via resignation two months ago, the so-called door opened for Krull’s return.
“The thing I’m looking forward to the most is being around the players,” Krull said. “That’s the flat-out best part of it, building relationships with those guys, watching those guys develop. That’s really the ultimate.”
Before Krull agreed to the position, he checked with a higher power.
“My wife and I discussed it,” said Krull. “There’s something to be said about football coaches wives. I wasn’t going to make that decision without talking to her. She gave me her blessing to do it.
“I have two little kids and I don’t know if they understand all there is. I asked them if they were ready for dad to get back into coaching, and they were pumped up about it. So this was a family decision.”
Krull said he was influenced by a number of former players who wanted to see him return.
“They wanted to see me get back into it if I was ready to,” Krull said. “It made me think that maybe it is time to get back into this.”