Hohmann leaves MFHS for Skidmore-Tynan

Marble Falls High School offensive coordinator Heath Hohmann is the new athletics director and head football coach at Skidmore-Tynan High School in Skidmore, Texas. Hohmann’s appointment was announced March 7, weeks after he interviewed for the job Feb. 22. Though he’s been a head baseball and track coach, this is his first chance to be a head football coach and athletics director.

“The stars aligned for me and my wife (Michele),” he said. “We’re excited to be around this area and these kids and just excited for this opportunity.”

Skidmore, which compares to the city of Thrall, is south of Beeville, and Skidmore-Tynan will play in District 15-2A Division I in football in 2022 and 2023. The Bobcats posted a 5-4 record overall in 2021, 2-4 in District 16-3A Division II.

For Hohmann, it’s a chance to go back to south Texas where he spent half of his career.

“I coached against Skidmore-Tynan in every sport except football,” he said.

Hohmann had been applying for head coaching jobs since last year but didn’t think he’d get an offer for another year or two. After talking to his wife, Hohmann applied at Skimore-Tynan. Conversations led to interviews and then an offer.

“I always liked this area,” Hohmann said. “I came from Llano, I’m a small town guy. I had no reason to leave Marble Falls other than this opportunity. I couldn’t pass it up.”

Hohmann, who graduated from Llano in 1996, played for coach Brent Kornegay, who told him to learn how to coordinate an offense and a defense if the youngster wanted to be a head coach. So Hohmann learned Kornegay’s “veer out of the gun” scheme and the Slot-T offense. Skidmore-Tynan has been running the Slot-T for more than a decade.

Hohmann was on Liberty Hill head coach Jerry Vance’s staff in 2010 when he met several coaches who helped reshape Marble Falls the last three years: head coach Brian Herman, offensive line coach Robert Draper, and other Mustang assistants.

One reason Skidmore-Tynan officials were interested in Hohmann is because of how the Mustangs competed in the last three years, the coach said. He told them about the first year, in 2019 when Marble Falls went 2-8 overall and 2-5 in District 13-5A Division II. Though the record didn’t indicate it, the Mustangs improved every week.

And they kept improving. In 2020, Marble Falls finished third in District 14-5A Division II with a 4-2 record, 7-3 overall including a bi-district championship thanks to a win at Brenham.

Last season, the Mustangs posted their best finish since the 1990s. Marble Falls went 9-4 overall, 4-2 in District 14-5A Division II to finish third, and defeated Brenham and Mission Veterans Memorial before losing to San Antonio Alamo Heights in the third round of the playoffs.

While few can argue with the record — the Mustangs went 16-7 overall, 8-4 in district play, and 3-2 in the playoffs in two years — what Hohmann will remember are what happened away from the Friday night lights, in empty stadiums and weight rooms, spaces that only members of the team occupied.

“It’s a special situation when you can get a group of coaches to come together and a get a group of kids to buy in,” he said. “We all have the same mentality as far as kids, community and parents. That first year was rocky. The seniors laid the foundation, the attitude, the work and the drive. They instilled them in those younger classmen that catapulted us to have the success we had.”

That was evident in the number of players who showed up for summer strength and conditioning. In 2019, it was 22. Last summer it was 78.

“The last two years were something special,” Hohmann said. “It was an honor and a privilege to be apart of it. That played a big key in me getting this job. Skidmore-Tynan wanted to know what it takes to build a program that’s struggling: faith and trust between coaches and players, those relationships.”

For Hohmann, leaving Marble Falls is bittersweet. He and his wife deepened some friendships and made some new ones. And the coach is looking forward to implementing the lessons he’s learned as a position coach, coordinator and head coach in other sports as he now leads his own department and adds more sports administration. He hopes to honor the people who taught him so much.

“I hope I can do a job they all respect,” he said.