Meet Ryan Smith, Grapevine’s next head football coach. What are his priorities, values?
East Texas Baptist offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ryan Smith was recommended as Grapevine’s next head football coach on Thursday, Jan. 23, at a Grapevine-Colleyville ISD Special Board of Trustees meeting.
“I’ve been in education 20 years, and essentially I’ve been in high school 15 of it. My deal and my focus, and what I think was important to me was being a head coach – when you get into what you think you’re called to do from a faith standpoint — being a head coach, that’s it for me,” Smith said in an exclusive interview with the Star-Telegram.
Smith met with the Grapevine community on Thursday at the Mustang Activity Center.
“We’re going to share a vision,” Smith said. “You know, everything operates out of what we call our mission, our values and our vision.”
Smith graduated from Southwest Assemblies of God in Waxahachie, where he also served as its head football coach. He is credited for leading SAGU to success, leading the school to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history.
Smith has a “process driven formula” that involves character formation, leadership, physical development that he says while spark “holisitic development” on and off the field. He will share some of his expectations with the team tomorrow.
Some of the process, according to Smith, includes books and other curriculums that will guide and prepare student athletes in multiple facets of life. Some of Smith’s main focuses include honest self assessment and avoiding comparison, something that the modern social media driven society amplifies.
Smith prioritizes and emphasizes “holisitc health”, and has four pillars that he focuses on: Physical preparation and fitness, mental engagement, strong characters and morals and social well being, connection and unity.
In 2022, Smith served as offensive coordinator at Midlothian Heritage High School, helping lead the Jaguars to an 11-2 record and two playoff wins. That season, Midlothian Heritage was eliminated by Dallas South Oak Cliff 33-27 in overtime, and the Bears moved on to win a state championship.
Smith also has coaching experience at Palmer ISD, Irving Nimitz and also has served at Noxapater High School and Oak Grove High School in Mississippi. He has head coaching experience at Newton High School in Mississippi.
Smith takes over for Bob DeBesse, who was 6-14 in two seasons with the Mustangs. In his first year, Grapevine posted a 6-4 record and made the playoffs. In 2024, the Mustangs failed to win a game, ending the season with a 0-10 record.
Smith has coached a winless team before. There will be growing pains, but that doesn’t mean there was something “broken” with the 2024 Mustangs, according to Smith. Now, they’ll work toward improvement one day at a time.
“We’re going to just break it down and start to identify who we are based on our core values, and we’re starting to operate out of those core values, and that’s going to be a daily deal,” Smith said.
Smith has a reputation as an offensive guru with a mind for schematics. As a player, he was a four-year starter at quarterback for SAGU from 2001 to 2004 and was a Preseason NAIA All-American in his final year. As SAGU’s head football coach, he led the school to average 40 points per game.
“We are thrilled to have Coach Smith lead the Mustang football program and be the campus boys athletic coordinator,” GCISD executive director of athletics Todd Raymond said in a statement. “The experience he brings to GHS will be invaluable, along with his focus on the development of our student-athletes both on and off the field.”
At Grapevine, he’ll introduce a new “controlled chaos” offense that prioritizes options and will have “three to four” on every play, whether its pre or post snap. It’s RPO and triple option based but also will be balanced with a 45 to 55 percent run to pass ratio.
“And we’ll utilize a lot of different people,” Smith said. “We want a lot of guys touching the football. 12 to 15 guys every game.”
There is a tradition and history of winning at Grapevine High School. Before 2024, the football program posted nine consecutive winning seasons that included an 80-32 (.71%) record. The Mustangs won UIL state championships in 1996 and 1998.
“We want our guys to want to be here,” Smith said. “We want our guys to be very proud, just like those older guys that are played on those 90s teams. We want them to be proud they play for Grapevine football.”
Smith, who has visited Grapevine in the past, knew it was the type of community that was a perfect fit for his family.
“This fits us — this is our vibe with a community,” Smith said of Grapevine. “This is who we are. It’s just really cool how things have aligned themselves.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2025 at 3:13 PM.
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