Zach Weigel was approved as the new head football coach at Sherrard High School at Wednesday’s school board meeting.

Currently a teacher at Davenport Central High School, Weigel brings a wealth of coaching experience across multiple levels. He has served as associate head football coach at Davenport Central as the varsity and JV defensive coordinator, was head JV coach and defensive coordinator at Keokuk, and coached at Iowa City West and Northwest Junior High in Coralville.

“Zach Weigel is a great fit for Sherrard football, he is a young, up and coming coach who we believe can grow our program. His competitive nature and passion for the game are evident in every conversation. I could not be more pleased with this hire,” Lisa Emenedorfer, Sherrard Assistant Principal for Activities, said in a press release.

Weigel succeeds Dan McGuirre, who came out of retirement to coach just one year, going 2-7.

During his first weeks at Sherrard, Weigel plans to focus on building the culture and relationships that will set a strong foundation for the program.

“The biggest thing is you got to get to know people. … Talking to the staff, talking to the players, administration, community members, everybody involved. Just trying to get to know the people is my first objective,” he said.

“We’re in the business of developing better people as educators and coaches. That’s why most of us get into it,” Weigel said. “As long as you’re doing the right thing, success is going to take care of itself.”

Looking further ahead, Weigel intends to establish consistent standards for the program.

“By the spring, we start building the culture. We start setting the standards that we want to have as a program. We start holding kids accountable…getting more so into the football-specific sort of things once we have the chess pieces on the board,” he said.

Weigel is eager to work with Sherrard players and staff.

“I’m going to be a really hard worker. I’m going to be passionate. I understand that coaching isn’t just something you have after school three months of the year to get some extra money,” he said.

“It’s an identity that is a big part of who I think I am as a person, and it’s something that I’m going to pour a lot of time and effort into. My wife might say too much time and effort sometimes, but we’re in it for the kids and making them better people and it’s easy to put the work in when it’s not about you.”

He plans to build on the successes already happening in Sherrard athletics, emphasizing consistency, culture, and core values as he steps into his new role.

“I don’t think you have to reinvent the wheel. If something successful is working for the basketball team or the baseball team, continue to use those sorts of things,” he said. “Ultimately, I think our culture’s going to come down to some core values…leadership, effort, accountability, and discipline.

“There’s a lot of things that go into building a program and I’m excited to get started working with the staff and players over the next eight months before we kick off the season.”

A native of Elma, Iowa, Weigel graduated from Crestwood High School in 2013 and holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Iowa (2017), an MA in Political Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2018), and an MA in Secondary Social Studies Education from the University of Iowa (2019).