New Cheney coach announced

CHENEY - The future of Cheney High School football is now in the hands of a man who has been a success at the collegiate level and has strong ties to the local community.

Former Eastern Washington University assistant coach and defensive coordinator John Graham was announced to succeed Bobby Byrd who stepped down following the 2023 winless 0-10 season.

"I'm super grateful for the opportunity given me so I just I hope I can pay it forward," Graham said. "It was something I knew I was eventually going to get back into doing."

Originally Graham thought his hiatus would be shorter than it ended up. The COVID situation and son Ty Graham transferring from Idaho to Eastern to finish his career delayed traveling the coaching trail.

Graham first arrived in Cheney as a member of Beau Baldwin's staff in 2008 and remained with Eastern for nine years before returning to the private sector for five years starting in 2017.

Eastern teams during that period won or shared five Big Sky titles and the 2010 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national crown.

"We made a pretty good run there," Graham remembered.

The coaching itch, however, was scratched and for a short while Graham joined the University of Idaho staff and coached while Ty, a Cheney grad, was a Vandal.

Graham, 55, echos sentiments shared by a number of Cheney coaches regarding the challenges presented becoming a member of the 3A Greater Spokane League. But he's been there before.

"We kind of went through the same thing at Central (Washington) when we moved from NAIA to Division II," Graham said. "It took us a couple of years to get our feet on the ground and realize what we were."

The Wildcats won the 1995 national title, the first year of Graham's dozen on the staff before coming to EWU.

Born in Ellensburg, the Reardan High School grad played for his father, WIAA Hall-of-Fame member, Dan Graham, graduating in 1987. He was a three-time all-league linebacker and two-time all-league quarterback for the Indians.

"Athletics and football have been in my life since the day I started walking; it's kind of part of my DNA," Graham said.

Graham briefly attended Idaho State on a football scholarship before playing two years at Walla Walla Community College. He was a teammate with Baldwin at CWU in 1990 and 1991 before graduating with a degree in business education in 1992.

Following college, Graham, coached a year at Kent-Meridian before landing his first head-coaching job at DeSales in Walla Walla. In two seasons he had a 12-7 record and even faced his father and two brothers when the teams squared off in the playoffs.

"I was only 25 when I got my first coaching job, but I walked into amazing situation," Graham said of guiding the powerhouse B school.

Then it was off to Central.

Graham has spent the past two years teaching business at Liberty High School near Spangle.

"They tried to get me to be their football coach a few years ago, but it wasn't the right timing," Graham said.

Football coaching will be teamed with some teaching job, Graham said but he's just not certain at this time what that will look like.

Having a coach in the building is very important to building a successful program, Graham said. The actual season is short, 10 games. "It's the other 42 weeks of the year that you're building that program."

Graham has met with players and is in the process of building his staff.

"These next eight to 10 months are gonna' be a whirlwind, but it's gonna be a fun whirlwind," Graham said. "I'm excited about it.

60 years of Cheney High Football Coaches

Coach

Years

Seasons

Wins

Losses

Ties

Pct.

Jim Hatch

1964-1971

8

30

40

1

.428

Bruce Grambo

1972-1977

6

21

32

0

.396

Tom Oswald

1978-2002

25

163

78

8

.676

Jason Williams

2003-2013

11

55

55

1

.500

Bobby Byrd

2014-2023

10

36

57

0

.387

Source: Bill Pierce, high school sports historian