Whitehouse Boys Basketball Coach Ryan Tomlin Resigns

Ryan Tomlin has turned in his resignation as Whitehouse head boys basketball coach to take a position as an assistant principal at Lindale High School.

The story was first reported by Smoaky.com.

Tomlin, who has spent the last five years at Whitehouse, said his decision to leave all came about quickly.

“I wasn’t thinking about (leaving at all) until about a week ago," Tomlin said. "I had run into the principal over there (at Lindale) and he mentioned there was a job open and said, ‘hey, we’d love to have you if that’s what you want or you can live without coaching right now.’ He let me pray about it with my family for about four or five days, and it just felt like the right thing to do. It’s a new step, a new season in my life and I’m excited to see what the administrative side is all about.”

In five seasons at Whitehouse, Tomlin guided the Wildcats to the playoffs all five years. Whitehouse finished 23-10 in 2013, losing to Mansfield Legacy in the bi-district round of the Class 4A playoffs.

“The No. 1 thing (I’ll take away) is the relationships, the relationships are hard to leave," Tomlin said of his time at Whitehouse. "When you invest your life in a community … that’s probably the biggest thing I’ll take away. Just the student-athletes and the regular students at Whitehouse, getting to be a part of their lives. The second thing was the administration. There’s not many places I’ve worked where I was as close to the administration and the coaches that I got to work with every day as well as the teachers.”

Whitehouse head football coach Adam Cook told ETSN.fm via text message: "My family has truly been blessed to work alongside Coach Tomlin and his family. We will miss him, but we are excited for him as he begins a new chapter in his career of serving students.”

Tomlin, who was also an assistant boys golf coach at Whitehouse, has served as a head basketball coach for 11 years, which also included stints at Bullard and Bonham. He led Bullard to the Class 3A Region II championship game in 2006.

Even though he's leaving the coaching profession for now, Tomlin wasn't ready to completely close that chapter of his life.

“Am I done coaching? No, I can’t say that," he said.