Burnet coach Carruthers resigns
CAPTION: Burnet assistant coach Carter Carruthers (seated, left) and head coach Juston Weldon watch from the sideline as the Bulldogs make a defensive stand against the Marble Falls Mustangs that leads to a season sweep and a playoff berth. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
Burnet High School golf head coach and boys assistant basketball coach Carter Carruthers resigned to take a position at Liberty Hill Legacy Ranch.
Carruthers joins the staff of boys basketball head coach Rylan Gerber.
“Really it was a no-brainer when it got presented to me,” Carruthers said. “Coach Gerber and I have become buddies in the coaching ranks and being around the sport. He called me and was telling me that he was going to have a lead assistant job next year that they’re going to have more staffing opportunities this year with freshmen and sophomores. He called me and told me that he wanted me to apply. He wanted me to apply and potentially come be their guy. He put it on my radar.”
Carruthers indicated more conversations occurred once the 2025-26 season ended.
“I decided that going over there to be a lead assistant would be a good move for me to continue to grow professionally,” he said. “I want to be a head coach in relatively short order, a head basketball coach, and this was just an opportunity for me to enhance my resume and grow. I just felt like it was the right move for me at this time.”
Realignment didn’t do Legacy Ranch any favors. The Wranglers will compete in District 16-5A against Belton, Killeen High, Killeen Ellison, Killeen Shoemaker, Liberty Hill, Waco High and Waco University for the next two years.
“That is kind of a district of doom,” Carruthers joked. “We have a chance to go succeed in that; it would look real good for us. And so it was a fun opportunity, a fun chance.”
He will be coaching the golf team during the fall.
“I think it’ll be a good move,” Carruthers said. “I’m certainly excited.”
Carruthers had a chance to go to Lorena High School two years ago and join Gerber, who was the head coach.
“Something inside me just told me it wasn’t the right move at that time,” he said.
Carruthers says good-bye to his alma mater after being on staff for three years. He graduated in 2017.
“Grateful for my time at Burnet and thankful for people that brought me on,” he said. “But it was the right time to make this move. There were some personal matters that factored into it, too.”
His significant other works in Cedar Park and making this move gets him closer to her.
“I felt strong in those convictions and didn’t want to ask her to change anything,” he said. “That was part of my decision, too, that played into it as well.”
While he is leaving Burnet Consolidated Independent School District now, Carruthers said he would never say he wouldn’t be open to coming back.
“I enjoyed it,” he said. “I wouldn’t write off ever coming back for sure if the right opportunity were to present itself. I want to be a head coach. (Bulldogs basketball head) coach (Juston) Weldon loves the job and has no intentions on giving up the job or leaving. I’m not upset about it by any means, but that’s just the way it was. I needed to go professionally.”
