GRANITE CITY – Sherand Boyd, Jr. was appointed as the new head coach of the Granite City High School football program in January and has already seen positive changes in the players and the team as the Warriors prepare for their season opener Aug. 21, 2026, against Freeburg at Kevin Greene Field.
Boyd, a former assistant coach at Edwardsville, an all-conference player at Belleville West, and a standout player at Northern Colorado, has gotten off to a great start in starting to turn around a downtrodden Warrior football program that went through its third straight 0-10 season in 2025 and is currently in the midst of a 32-game losing streak. Granite last won a game on Sept. 17, 2022, a 51-36 win over Madison, and last won a road game on Oct. 4, 2019, at Collinsville 54-49.
In an interview conducted on Aug. 8 at Kevin Greene Field after a preseason practice workout, Boyd expressed his enthusiasm about the opening game, and was very happy with how his players have responded and worked hard to get ready.
“Yes, for sure,” Boyd said. “We’ll see Freeburg on Aug. 21, we know they have a good football team, they made the playoffs last year, and they made a pretty good run in the playoffs. I think they’ll be a good team for us to size up against, and we’ll be able to show everyone on Friday night what we’ve been working on. I took the job over in January, and it’ll be exciting for me, finally, Aug. 21, to see the progress down here on the field, and what the boys have been working on so hard this year.”
Boyd sees his coaching philosophy as an extension of the classroom, and thinks the best coaches are also excellent teachers.
“I think my coaching philosophy is that the best coaches are great teachers,” Boyd said. “If you are a really good teacher, you are a really good football coach. So, I think the beauty of that is if we’re able to teach kids what we want, to give them multiple opportunities to be able to learn, and to apply that information to the field, to the classroom, and in their lives, that’s my coaching philosophy. I believe that football is an extension of the classroom. So, everything the kids are learning out here, they should be doing exactly in the classroom, and that’s what we want out of our athletes. That’s my coaching philosophy.”
Practice sessions have progressed very well, and Boyd, his staff, and the players are all anxious to get things started against the Midgets.
“I think the guys have been responding really well,” Boyd said. “One of the big changes that we made is that, in the past, we used to go in the evenings, but now we’ve moved practices to the mornings; we’ve been going at 7 a.m., and we’ve been telling guys to get here 15 minutes early. For the most part, guys have been getting here at 6:45 ready to go to work in the morning. So, we’ve completely turned everything upside down. And I especially think the seniors, who have been through multiple head coaches and multiple situations, have responded well. So, we want to make sure these guys get a really good season, but also start to continue to build the foundation of what the future of Granite City football will look like. And I think the boys have responded well to that.”
Boyd does feel very optimistic about good things happening to the Warriors this season as opening day approaches.
“I really am,” Boyd said. “I think we’ve seen so many changes. I’ve seen so many changes from the coaching staff, from the administration, from the community buy-in, from our seniors. Some of our seniors are still tentative. When you come into the situation, and you’re kind of working on new things, you’re trying to get things changed, you don’t know how kids are going to respond. But we look out here, and I know the numbers have changed drastically for us in a positive way. So, we’re really excited to see that product on Friday night.”
Boyd concluded the interview with thanks for the opportunity to coach the Warriors, and to the school district’s administration for their support.
“Again, I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity,” Boyd said. “I think one thing I want everybody to look out for this year is how much support we continue to get from this community. I think we have some of the best facilities around; I think we have some of the best community stakeholders around. Superintendent Dr. (Don) Harris is great; he loves sports, he believes that sports are important to kids, and the district is doing everything possible to give us as many resources as possible for us to be successful this year. And that’s something I’m thankful for as a new head coach: to have the community buy-in, just to have their backing, and to receive as many resources as possible to contribute to the success of these boys.”
