Walled Lake Western names Alex Grignon as next Head Coach (Story)

Walled Lake Western announced the hiring of Alex Grignon as the school’s head football coach, taking over for Mike Zdebski who resigned in January to take a job at Chandler Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona.

After an extensive search, Walled Lake Athletic Director, Brian Swinehart felt very confident that the Warriors found their new head coach when he announced the hiring of Grignon on Tuesday morning.

“We are excited to welcome Coach Grignon to the Warrior family. Alex brings energy, passion, integrity, and a tremendous amount of football knowledge to the Western program.”

Grignon played collegiately at Northern Michigan University where he was a four-year starter, and an All-Conference (GLIAC) player as a senior. After his college playing days, the former defensive back remained in Marquette, working as a graduate assistant for the Wildcats.

Coaching is in Grignon’s blood as he is now a third-generation MHSAA head coach. The new Warriors’ coach follows in the footsteps of his father (Jamie) who was a coach at Dearborn and Lincoln Park and grandfather (Ted) who coached at Lincoln Park in the 1960s.

The younger Grignon played for his dad who at the time was the defensive coordinator at Dearborn High, earning all-state honors during his junior and senior seasons and leading the Pioneers to the first state semifinal in school history (2004).

After graduating from Northern and working in the Detroit-area, Grignon began coaching with his father at Lincoln Park High, serving as the offensive coordinator. The coaching staff took over a program that had previously lost 66 consecutive games, and within three seasons, the Railsplitters made the playoffs for the first time in school history.

Grignon has coached wrestling, varsity soccer, and track at the high school level. Last season, he was the varsity offensive coordinator at South Lyon High School. He currently works as the Director of Quality Control at Legacy Center.

Western principal Joe Bell is looking forward to working with Grignon.

“Coach Grignon brings energy, experience, and the natural leadership that will continue the winning tradition of Western Football far into the future.”

Grignon and his wife, Vanessa who was also a college student athlete at NMU (basketball, track) reside in Dearborn with their sons, Quincy (10) and Kirby (7) and daughter Jozie (7).

Grignon accepted the job earlier this morning, and was at the school hours later to get started.

The newly hired coach said, “My family and I could not be more excited to join the Walled Lake Western football family. I am ready to hit the ground running. I realize that there is a lot of work to do in a short amount of time, but the challenge was one of the most attractive things about the job.

“Obviously, there are big shoes to fill and high expectations, but I believe we can still make an impact and make a great program even better.”

Grignon continued, “Our work ethic and drive to succeed will be cornerstones in building a high character, high class program that does things the right way… THE WARRIOR WAY!”