|              |                                                                                                       
|------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Exhibit 31.1: | Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Certification
of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a  14(a)
Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

I,
R. Chad Dreier, certify that:

1.
I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of The Ryland Group, Inc. ("the Company");

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

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

4.
The Company's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company and have:

a)
Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b)
Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c)
Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of
the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

d)
Disclosed in this report any change in the Company's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the Company's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is
reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.
The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Company's auditors and the audit committee of
the Company's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a)
All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company's ability to
record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b)
Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

|Date: February 21, 2006 | /s/ R. Chad DreierR. Chad Dreier
Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer
|----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---



---