by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Tyler Ryan has resigned as head coach of the Wellington football Crusaders. He tendered his resignation this morning at USD 353 school.

Ryan and his wife Stephanie have accepted teaching jobs at Holton High School next fall. Ryan said he will not be coaching, but will be teaching at the high school in business education. Stephanie, who teaches at Lincoln Elementary, will teach at a similar elementary school in Holton.

Tyler Ryan

“I needed to set back and catch my breath,” Ryan said. “Football is a year-round process. I was stressing and it wasn’t good for my health.”

“This was not about anything Wellington did or did not do. This was a personal thing. I had been on the fence about this decision for some time.”

Ryan will finish out the year as the WHS track coach. He said he might pursue a track position at Holton, but currently has no plans to coach football.

Ryan took over at Wellington High School four years ago, replacing Dylan Schmidt, who was there for one year after replacing Linn Hibbs.

Hibbs just recently took the head coaching job at Winfield High School. T.D. Buck recently resigned as the defensive coordinator – a position he has held for more than a decade. He will be rejoining Hibbs as an offensive line coach.

Ryan denied that Buck transferring to Winfield played a role in his decision.

Both resignations will be approved at the next meeting. Buck will remain a teacher at USD 353 and is currently the WHS girls softball coach.

The Crusaders were 16-20 in Ryan’s four seasons here, and failed to make the playoffs in any of those seasons.

“I really appreciate the community, for all they have done for me and my family,” Ryan said. “I especially want to thank Brian (Buchanan) and Adam (Hatfield), who have been great to work with.”

Ryan said he knows it is late in the process for hiring new coaches, but there are a lot of good ones out there.

“I really hope Wellington can hire a football coach, who can get them over the hump,” Ryan said.

Ryan came to Wellington at 28 years of age having coached at Wichita Trinity for two seasons where he was 9-9 during his tenure there. Wellington had gone 2-8 and 3-6 in the two previous years, before Ryan took the position.

Ryan had two winning seasons. He was 5-4 in 2013 and 5-4 in 2014, before going 4-5 in 2015.

This will mark the third head football coaching search this decade. Wellington last made the playoffs in 2010.

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