Tradition-rich Waxahachie has named Denton Ryan defensive coordinator Shane Tolleson as its new head coach.

He's tasked with the job of leading the Indians back to playoff glory, but in the state’s largest classification and in one of the most competitive districts in all of Texas. 

Waxahachie ISD’s search only lasted a month and the committee moved quickly after closing the job in mid-January. Eight candidates were interviewed in the first round and that list included at least three highly successful head coaches. After the final four candidates were brought in last Thursday, Tolleson’s name began to emerge as the leading candidate over the weekend. 

Tolleson, who has served as the defensive coordinator for Denton Ryan since 2014, has been at Ryan HS since 2013 where in his first season he served as the linebackers coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator. Tolleson has ties to the area as he’s a graduate of Corsicana High School where he was an all-state linebacker after a college playing career at Navarro College and Arkansas State. Tolleson served as a graduate assistant at Arkansas State. 

After getting hired on full-time as an assistant at Division II Southern Arkansas University, Tolleson returned to Texas where he joined the staff at Haltom High School, where he worked under defensive coordinator Eugene Rogers, also a Corsicana native. 

Since taking the reins of Ryan’s defense in 2014, Tolleson’s defensive units have helped Ryan emerge as one of the state’s dominant programs posting a 95-15 overall record (with five of those losses coming in 2014), included in the run is the 5A-Division I state championship in 2020. 

Tolleson takes over a Waxahachie program that seems to be finding their footing in a tough District 11-6A that features Duncanville, Cedar Hill and DeSoto. Waxahachie was able to make the playoffs this year for the first time as a 6A program and with big-time future growth plans and elite facilities, Waxahachie is a program to watch the next few years.