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Fresh Faces: Casey Walraven halts Hutto’s coaching carousel
VYPE’s “Fresh Faces” series introduces new Head Football Coaches in the Austin area…
The “coaching carousel” is a cliché as old and worn in sports as “taking ‘em one day at a time.” When new Hutto Head Coach Casey Walveran takes the field against Harker Heights for the Hippos’ first game, it will mark the third straight season – and fourth in the last six years – that Hutto has a new head coach. You’d think the carousel had hippos instead of horses.
But this time might be different.
Born in Fort Worth, the 48-year-old Walraven grew up in Alvarado and played high school ball at Alvarado High School. Following a collegiate career spent as a triple option quarterback at D2 Eastern New Mexico University where he also played baseball, he immediately went into coaching as a receiver’s coach at Kennedale as soon as he graduated. From there, he spent seven years as the offensive coordinator and five more years as the head coach and athletic director at Grandview. He went to Cleburne for five years before returning to his hometown of Alvarado, where he turned the Indians into a 4A powerhouse and offensive juggernaut.
With that full circle moment of coaching his alma mater in the rearview mirror, one gets the sense that Hutto’s carousel might stop with Walraven.
“I’ve been a part of four rebuilds and I wanted to get somewhere this time when I made the move to come in, and it wasn’t necessarily a rebuild on the field,” Walraven explained. “There’s some things we need to get better at, obviously, to do what we want to do, but coming to Hutto, the talent’s there. We’ve got to put it with execution and effort, and we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us.
Walraven inherits a program that lit up the scoreboard last year on the way to its first home playoff win in six years. While inheriting a high-powered offense may have influenced Walraven’s decision to come to leave his metroplex roots for the Austin area, it wasn’t the only factor.
“Johnson County’s a good place,” Walraven emphasized. “It was great to my family, growing up there and the majority of my coaching career was there. But I wanted to get out and get challenged and see some of Texas. Austin’s an area where me and my wife have always felt would be a great place to be and that’s what it’s been so far and we’re very excited about the opportunity in Hutto.
“I love to be challenged. I love to be comfortable like everybody else, but I know in that comfort zone, I have a tough time growing. So, you’ve gotta get out of that comfort zone at that point and that’s what we’re doing here.”
He was also quick to commend a Hutto ISD administration that was likely as ready for stability as he’s eager to provide it, starting with Hutto ISD superintendent Jeni Neatherlin.
“She’s very supportive of athletics. Does a lot of things to really push athletics, so that’s part of it,” Walraven confirmed. “Coach (Will) Compton, great athletic director. He’s been there and done that on the football side, so having good, solid administration, elite administration” all combined to attract Walraven to take over at Hutto.
Compton had taken over as head coach when Brad LaPlante became Hutto ISD athletic director in 2022, then became the AD himself when LaPlante left for Montgomery ISD. Eli Reinhart came in last year from North Crowley, only to take a collegiate position and open a door that Walraven was happy to walk through. But he understands the impact that revolving door can have on young student athletes.
“I think that’s always a challenge, especially for these seniors,” he agreed. “When I first got here and started talking to them, you could see it in their eyes. You know, ‘Here we go again.’ You know? But that’s part of it.
“I told them it’s about them anyway. They’re the ones that the focal point is on, regardless of who’s here (as the coach). We don’t have a lot of time. I was fortunate to get in here at the end of February and start building that relationship and trust factor to hopefully let them see who we are as people and not just coaches. It’s a tough situation when you have that but at the same time, you’ve got talented kids and intelligent kids and once they can see that you’re gonna build those relationships with them and care about ‘em off the field, it tends to come together pretty quickly.”
It will have to come together fast for Walraven and the Hippos with the first game just weeks away. And he knows it’s important to get off to a good start in a newly configured District 24-6A in which five of the seven teams were playoff teams last season.
“Our mentality is, we’ve gotta come out of the gate strong and like we’ve been here for two or three years already as coaches, so the pace of everything in our minds is different than what the real timeline is showing. So, we’re definitely going to be thinking ahead to the game. We’ve got a great challenge that first week with Harker Heights. We’ve gotta be ready for it and we fully anticipate to be successful there. With the talent we have and the experience we have, we don’t have to sit here and go, ‘Let’s gel for five to six weeks.’ We’ve gotta go! So, that’s the expectation and that’s the mentality we’ve gotta have.
“We want to make a long playoff run and ultimately be playing at AT&T,” he continued. “I know a lot of people wanta say that, but not everyone is blessed with the opportunity to really have that true opportunity. You’ve got to have different pieces fall into place. One is, you’ve gotta believe it. Two is, you’ve got to have some talent. You’ve got to have the effort and the work that goes into what that needs to happen and you’ve gotta stay healthy, So, we’re in control of a lot of that; some of it we’re not. So, the things we are in control of and that we’ve been blessed with, we’ve got to take it and run with it and make the most of that opportunity. Leave it out on the field, attack and get to Thanksgiving and anything happens at that point.”
So, for now, at least, the carousel has stopped in Hutto, and Coach Casey Walraven, his wife of 22 years, Abby, who he met in junior high school, their son Rex, going into the 7th grade, and daughter, Liv, a 4th-grader, are set to embark on this, his 25th year in coaching and education.
“The main thing is, there’s a lot of great people around here. I appreciate everybody at Hutto, being so welcoming. It’s been a lot of change for them the last few years, so I appreciate their patience with another change and accepting of our family and our new coaches. It’s going to be an exciting time and would love to have as many people out supporting Hutto Football as possible.”
Stony Point Head Football Coach Dustin Pleasant - Photo courtesy of Stony Point assistant
Fresh Faces: Dustin Pleasant opens new era at Stony Point
VYPE’s “Fresh Faces” series introduces new Head Football Coaches in the Austin area…
George W. Bush was President of the United States when Stony Point High School named Craig Cheshire their new Head Football Coach.
“I’ve been eyeing this for a long time,” New Tigers Head Coach Dustin Pleasant acknowledged his desire to coach at Stony Point where Cheshire had roamed the sidelines for 23 seasons at the helm. “And when the opportunity came open, I prayed real hard about it, tried to do the right things and God and Jesus answered. And so, I gladly accepted.”
Born in Dublin, Texas, just outside of Stephenville, Pleasant graduated from Temple High School where he played for legendary Lions Head Coach Bob McQueen. He began his college career as an option quarterback at Air Force Preparatory School, but the experience “was a little bit different than I expected,” Pleasant explained cryptically.
“I got recruited out and so I played for the University of Wyoming under Joe Glenn and Dick Coney,” he continued. “Very special time at Laramie. We were not very good at first and then we ended up winning a bowl game my sophomore year. And then I finished up at Tarleton State University.”
A career in coaching soon called.
“I had a couple tryouts with the CFL. I was given a green light and then reality hit. They went with somebody else and so I had to put on my big boy pants and welcome to the real world!” Pleasant chuckled.
Pleasant began his coaching career as an assistant at Pflugerville Connally under Howard McMahan, then coached under Bob Shipley at Belton. He eventually made his way to McNeil and then to Rouse under former head coach Josh Mann, an experience Pleasant calls a “very, very special time.”
Pleasant’s first head coaching job at Carter Riverside in Fort Worth briefly took him outside the Austin area before he made his way back to Hutto as offensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
“It put me right here, where I want to be. And I plan to be here for a long time,” Pleasant grinned.
Now 43-years-old, he, along with his wife, Candice, and daughters Cambrie (8) and Delilah (2), is grateful to be in a place that he’d long coveted.
“Back when I was a young coordinator and I worked at Round Rock McNeil, and just being at Rouse, Stony Point has been a job that I thought fit my personality. Blue collar. I just thought then that it was a great community that loved and supported each other.
“It’s an opportunity and it’s an opportunity I don’t take lightly. Especially one I’ve always wanted,” Pleasant emphasized. He also acknowledged the irony of taking over a team that he’d coached against last season as an assistant in Hutto.
“After playing these guys last year, I sat there with a lot of coaches on the Hutto staff and said, ‘Man, there’s a lot of talent (at Stony Point),’ he recalled. “We lost some talent from the previous team, but there’s still a lot of talent here. And kids are hungry for what we call ‘CTC.’ And that’s, ‘Care, Trust, Commit.’ And these kids are invested in it. They’re working their butts off. It hasn’t been easy with all the construction and all the summer workouts but let me tell you. These kids are eager and hungry for love and hungry to win.”
Pleasant takes over a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2019 and knows 2026 isn’t going to be a cakewalk. Perennial powers Westlake and Lake Travis join all five Round Rock ISD teams in a newly reconfigured District 25-6A, replacing Hutto, Manor, Vandegrift and Vista Ridge. It’s a compact 7-team district that leaves little room for error. But Pleasant appears to relish the challenge.
“I’m glad they (Westlake and Lake Travis) are (in the district,)” he declared. “I always tell kids you gotta play against the best to be the best. So, we will never back down from anybody. But my expectations are, first of all, we run a good, smooth program. Our kids are winning in the right way, and they learn how to win.
“But we’re gonna make the playoffs. We want to make the playoffs. That’s our goal. And we want a chance to play after Thanksgiving when everybody’s at home. I got a taste of that at Rouse and it’s addictive. And so, everybody’s sitting at home, I wanta be playing!”
On the eve of what he hopes will be his own quarter-century on the sidelines, Dustin Pleasant introduces this new era of Tigers Football with a declaration:
“Stony Point community and the Austin area, we’re here with a chip on our shoulder. We’re out to prove things to ourselves and what we can do here at The Point.”