Ryan Habich, the head football coach at Fuquay-Varina High School for the past five seasons, has resigned to become the head coach at Watauga High in Boone.

Habich attended Mars Hill College and is married to a Hendersville native.

“We have wanted to get back to western North Carolina for a while,” Habich said. “I hate to leave Fuquay, I call it the hidden gem of Wake County, but the chance to get up here and be close to family was too good to turn down.”

Habich succeeded Dave Riggs as the Bengals head coach in 2008 after serving on Riggs’ staff for three years.

Habich’s clubs posted an overall record of 50-14 and won 10 or more games in his first four seasons. The Bengals were 7-5 in 2012 and advanced to the playoffs before being eliminated by Richmond County 34-14.

He was a former quarterback, but embraced an offense centered around the running game. The Bengals churned out a succession of 1,000-yard rushers from a Wing-T formation.

Watauga has a strong football tradition and Habich said the program has a lot of positives.

“There seems to be a lot of support in the community for the school,” Habich said.

Habich said his eight years in Fuquay had helped him. He said Riggs was not only a great man and a great coach, but was a great mentor.

“He taught me that coaching is all about relationships,” Habich said. “You’ve always got to put the child ahead of the player.”

His best memories of Fuquay will be the players, he said.

“We had a bunch of high character kids,” Habich said. “We were not always the strongest or the fastest, but we usually played with a lot of heart.”

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