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**Exhibit 31.1:   Certification of PrincipalExecutive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002**

Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuantto Rule 13a – 14(a)

Under theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934

I, R. Chad Dreier, certifythat:

1. I have reviewed this AnnualReport on Form 10-K/A of The Ryland Group, Inc. (the “Company”);

2. Based on my knowledge, thisreport does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit tostate a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of thecircumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading withrespect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, thefinancial statements, and other financial information included in this report,fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results ofoperations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presentedin this report;

4. The Company’s other certifyingofficer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosurecontrols and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined inExchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company and have:

a) Designed such disclosurecontrols and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures tobe designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relatingto the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us byothers within those entities, particularly during the period in which thisreport is being prepared;

b) Designed such internal controlover financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financialreporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assuranceregarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation offinancial statements for external purposes in accordance with generallyaccepted accounting principles;

c) Evaluated the effectiveness ofthe Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this reportour conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls andprocedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on suchevaluation; and

d) Disclosed in this report anychange in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurredduring the Company’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected,or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal controlover financial reporting; and

5. The Company’s other certifyingofficer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internalcontrol over financial reporting, to the Company’s auditors and the auditcommittee of the Company’s board of directors (or persons performing theequivalent functions):

a) All significant deficiencies andmaterial weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control overfinancial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company’sability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b) Any fraud, whether or notmaterial, that involves management or other employees who have a significantrole in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
| Date: November 7, 2006 | /s/ R. Chad Dreier       |
|------------------------|--------------------------|
|                   | R. Chad Dreier           |
|                   | Chairman,  President and |
|                   | Chief Executive  Officer |

 

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