POSITION: Recruiting Coordinator/Special Teams/Linebackers
Mason Ruzicka enters his fifth year at ETBU and his first under new head coach Calvin Ruzicka. He has been promoted to the recruiting coordinator while coaching the special teams and linebackers. He started his at ETBU in 2018 as a graduate assistant and played two years at NCAA Division II Southwest Baptist University.
Calvin Ruzicka says on Mason, "He sets a high standard for his players and strives to hold them accountable, while trying to make his position group the best on the team. Throughout his playing career as a linebacker or fullback, he also excelled on every special team group. He brings experience, knowledge and passion to share with our players, as well as a desire to help them be their best."
He has coached five players that have earned six All-ASC awards at linebacker in four seasons including All-American
Anton Clark and All-Region player
Justice Henson. In 2022, Joey Johnson received his second straight All-ASC award moving up to second team while Joey Verret was a third team selection. The fall 2021 season had Ruzicka coach both Johnson and Justice Henson who were All-ASC third-team selections. Johnson finished second in tackling in the ASC while Henson was eighth. In spring 2021, he coached two players that made All-ASC teams as Henson was an All-ASC second team member and made the D3football.com All-Region team while Chase Thompson was then named All-ASC honorable mention.
Ruzicka played high school football in a storied program at Cedar Hill. He was the starting fullback on the 2013 5A Texas State Championship team and earned All-District first team, Academic All-State first team, and was selected the National Football Foundation Gridiron Club of Dallas Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He received a scholarship to play football at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., where he was a two-year starter. He later transferred to UT-Arlington, where he completed his undergraduate degree.
His core values are integrity, passion, commitment, and discipline based off of his year years on the field and in the Bible. He exemplifies these same values daily and hopes to instill them into his players.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in History at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2018 with a minor in Disability Studies and a Master's Degree in Education – Sports Leadership from ETBU. He attends Mobberly Baptist Church in Marshall.
