Marble Falls football head coach Herman resigns

CAPTION: Brian Herman submitted his resignation Nov. 7 after five years of leading the Marble Falls Independent School District athletic department. Photo by Ralph Arvesen

Marble Falls Independent School District athletic director and head football coach Brian Herman turned in his resignation Nov. 7, four days after the Mustangs completed the 2023 season.

The school district announced the resignation in a joint statement with Herman that was released around 8:30 a.m.

Herman will move into an administrative role under the direction of Dr. Jeff Gasaway, the district’s superintendent. Herman’s contract ends in July 2023. Assistant athletic director John Berkman takes over as the interim athletic director. Coordinators Ryan Craven and Richard Scales will run the football offseason program.

Meanwhile the school district will begin the search for a new coach, according to the statement.

Herman said he doesn’t know what his next career move will be. He has a son, Brody, who was a member of the 2023 varsity as a sophomore.

“This next move is for family,” the elder Herman said. “That is a legitimate, factual statement.”

Herman took over a Marble Falls program that had three different head coaches from 2012-19 after Cord Woerner had the job from 2004 to January 2012 Todd Dodge led the program in 2012 and 2013 and resigned to take over at Austin Westlake in summer 2014. Matt Green was hired in 2014 and left during the summer of 2017 to lead the Llano Yellow Jackets. Mike Birdwell had the job in 2017 and 2018 and resigned in spring 2019.

Herman was hired after Marble Falls ISD leaders invited community members to tell them the traits they wanted in the next football coach: an individual who would stay for an extended period to build a program and instill a philosophy and culture.

In Herman’s first season in 2019, the Mustangs went 2-8. But in his second year, Marble Falls went 7-3 and finished third in District 14-5A Division II with a 4-2 record. The Mustangs beat Brenham at Cub Stadium for the bi-district championship, marking the program’s first postseason win since the 2010 season.

In Herman’s third year, Marble Falls again finished third in the district with a 4-2 record and 7-3 in the regular season. But the Mustangs won two playoff games, including at Brenham in overtime, and lost to San Antonio Alamo Heights 10-7 in the third round to end the year with a 9-4 record. Competing in three playoff games in one season hadn’t been done since the David Denney era of the 1990s.

So when realignment was announced in February 2022 and the Mustangs dropped down to Class 4A, it coincided with the graduation of about 30 players who made up the cornerstone of the 2020 and 2021 football teams.

The non-district schedule leading up to playing in District 13-4A Division I during the 2022 and 2023 seasons didn’t help the Mustangs either. In back-to-back seasons, Marble Falls finished 2-8 and 1-9.

“We had to play teams we weren’t evenly matched with because of previous success,” Herman said.

And while Herman acknowledges the 3-17 record the last two seasons is unacceptable, he pointed out he was encouraged by the future.

That’s because he saw development from the seventh-graders through the underclassmen and the returners for the 2024 season.

“I even told the freshmen I was excited about them as sophomores,” he said. “I was letting them play a JV schedule. That’s only going to make them better.”

The ending is especially tough for him considering he believes the varsity Mustangs played their best contest of the 2023 season during the 28-7 loss Nov. 3 to district co-champion San Antonio Davenport.

“We played our best game against the best team in district,” he said.

He was quick to answer how he wants his five years at the helm of the Mustang program to be thought of.

“I want to be remembered as somebody who loves this community and tried my hardest,” he said. “I made plenty of mistakes. I wish I could have scheduled better.”

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