By: Kaylinn Esparza
The football team is the epitome of what a high school stands for, and the Grenadiers are no exception to that. The school has come to cherish and support the team and its players.
Recently, these Grenadiers have had to open their house to a new teammate: coach Larry Calhoun. Calhoun is now a new member of the Gren Nation and will be the leader for the Grenadiers to be successful on the field.
“It was exciting to come to a new school. I was going to be head football coach for a core program that has been in the quarter finals,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun stumbled upon the Grenadiers because of his son who lives in Barrington and Calhoun was in the process of finding a coaching job in Texas.
The goal was to have his son move to Texas and have his whole family in one area. It all changed once he came to visit his son and his wife convinced him to apply for jobs in the Illinois area.
“I didn’t think it would really happen, one thing led to another and an Elk Grove job was open. It all happened really fast,” Calhoun said.
He came in for an interview and was officially hired on June 25. The team did not have a chance to meet him until the beginning of their second football session.
“When I came in, whether it was the right thing or wrong thing, my philosophy was to try to do what we were already doing to only make changes where I felt we really needed to. [I did this] to make the learning curve easier for our players,” said Calhoun.
There was no time to make any drastic changes. Calhoun came in and did the best with what was already there. The transition for players was minimal due to the lack of changes in drills and coaching styles.
“Coach Doll and Calhoun have the same offensive and defensive techniques, so it wasn’t that hard of a transition,” junior Adam O’Malley said.
Calhoun has kept all traditions the team had intact, like pre-game rituals. The way they get ready for a game stayed the same since they have been doing it for a long time. As a team, though, they have started a model board and are trying to be more of a family.
“The player’s opinion is what matters the most. I hope they are buying what we are doing because if not we can not be successful,” Calhoun said.
Although change is inevitable, the team is not afraid to learn new techniques. They have learned how to take new advice and use it to their advantage.
“The team thinks that they haven’t experienced setbacks at all we’ve been well prepared and always work hard,” senior Kishan Patel said.
Changes will slowly be made as the season progresses, but Calhoun is trying to maintain old traditions to preserve what the team had the previous season.
“[Coach Calhoun] is a great guy and he knows what he’s doing,” Patel said. “He adapted to our offense quickly and added new twists to it.”