Jan 16, 2026 By Jerin Steele 3 min read

For years Ryan Krull has tried to strike a balance between family life and being a head football coach.

He’s found that task has become harder each year and has decided to step down at Carmichaels to spend more time with his family.

Krull, who has had two stints as the Mikes’ coach, handed in his letter of resignation Thursday.

“I’ve been trying to balance being a football coach and doing that the right way and being present at home,” Krull said. “Everyone has a different perspective on how to be a football coach and I’m not any different. I feel there’s a certain way it’s supposed to be done and it’s an enormous commitment on the coach’s part and the coach’s family’s part too.

“I had to make the tough decision to step away.”

Krull has two young children, a 10-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter.

Krull was the coach at Carmichaels from 2013 through ’19 before resigning and then returned in 2023. He had a 48-50 record between his two stints with four playoff appearances and one playoff win.

He is in select company as one of only nine head coaches Carmichaels has had in the last 101 years.

This year the Mikes went 4-5.

Krull believes the demands of being a head coach at the high school level have increased in recent years and credits anyone in any sport that dedicates that much time to the job.

He lived it for 10 seasons and now is ready for the next chapter.

“A lot of people don’t see the amount of time that’s required, because they’ve never done it,” Krull said. “There’s a lot of things high school coaches do behind the scenes that aren’t known. The introduction of Hudl in recent years has changed things. We’re able to record practices and games from multiple angles, which to me was a blessing and a curse. The curse from my perspective was that if I wasn’t watching as much film as possible, I was doing a disservice to my players. It wasn’t right for me to ask them to give everything they could and not do the same thing for them in film study. That can be a slippery slope.”

During the transition process, Krull said he and his staff will continue to do offseason programs with the players until the new coach is hired.

He’ll miss the relationships he’s fostered with players over the years, but will still be a presence in their lives as a physical education teacher at Carmichaels.

“There’s guys that are players of mine from my first stint that I’ve gone to their weddings,” Krull said. “I’ve been around long enough that some guys who played for me now have kids of their own. Those relationships just don’t die. I told our players that I’m fortunate to work at the school, so it’s not like I’m not going to see those guys.

“From my perspective, it’s easier to say see you later than goodbye.”