By Art Garcia
Photography by Thanin Viriyaki
The move came as a surprise, but not entirely out of left field, considering the role Riley Dodge had already been playing, or as he’s better known, the highly decorated head football coach of Southlake Carroll. Dodge also served as the high school boys’ athletic coordinator since 2018.
Dodge’s duties expanded on Sept. 13, 2024, with his appointment by the Carroll Independent School District to become the new executive director of athletics. Dodge replaced Steve Keasler, who left for a position at the University of North Texas, and oversees all athletic programs within Carroll ISD.
The Carroll programs, as a whole, are among the most successful in the state, having captured nine UIL Lone Star Cups, which base the team’s overall achievement on various sanctioned academic, athletic and music championships. Carroll won its last Lone Star Cup for the 2023-24 academic year and finished second last year.
Were you surprised when the opportunity presented itself to be the athletic director?
I was. Obviously, when Steve left right before school started, things happened really fast. I was excited to take on the challenge and new role, and it’s been awesome. I have an amazing staff and assistant AD, Jennifer Suitor, who I couldn’t do without. We have an amazing team behind us.
How is this role different for you?
Probably the biggest thing I have changed is just trying to build a stronger community with our head coaches, kids and programs, and looking for different ways to connect. All of our programs are around each other a lot more. That helps us utilize our facilities more effectively. The biggest change for me was trust and leaning on the people we have. If I’m going to do both jobs, I have to delegate certain things. I have a lot to learn when it comes to AD, but at the same time, I have a lot to learn from all of our head coaches, and we have so many great ones.
What message do you share with those other coaches, players and programs?
That we’re all in this together. I might be the head football coach, but at the end of the day, I’m responsible for our entire athletic department, all of our programs and our coaches. So I’m always going to stand up for our head coaches, kiddos and athletic programs. I’m going to try to bring them the very best, and I think people can see that within this past year with what our team has been able to do facility-wise, from the gym to the weight room to our fieldhouse, and the stuff we’re going to get for baseball and softball in the near future. I’m trying to be as aggressive as possible when it comes to the facilities that our kids deserve.
Is that what you’re most excited about?
As the head football coach and athletic coordinator, I was able to bring in a strength and conditioning coordinator, Doug Castleberry, a couple of years ago. Just that one person made a huge change for all of our programs, as well as the weight room and our mentality. It’s been great for our head coaches. The answer is not always going to be a “yes” from certain people, but I’m always going to be aggressive and try to stay on the forefront of athletics and emerging science and technology, as much as I possibly can.
Do you see a day when administration could be a full-time role?
Probably not. I got into this business to coach. This place is unique in that it allows me to be in a dual role. The school probably wouldn’t have considered it without the sweat equity I accrued from growing up here, playing here and working here for eight years. So, I understand this place, the people in this town and our stakeholders. I think at the end of the day, I’m a football coach that also gets to be an athletic director.
How important is the Lone Star Cup to the entire Carroll program?
It’s very big. We had a head coaches’ meeting a couple of weeks ago, and we talked about it. I don’t want to hide from it. Our coaches share the same belief I do when it comes to competing at the highest level, winning district championships, making runs in the playoffs and ultimately winning state titles. We’ve been able to do that. We’ve had several state titles this past year across the board. We placed second at Lone Star. It’s pretty special. We’ve won a lot of them. I’m biased, but, holistically, we’re the cream of the crop athletic department in the state of Texas, and we’ve proven that year after year.