The Sheridan School District has hired Tyler Turner to lead the Yellowjacket football program as senior high head coach. Turner was defensive coordinator at Sylvan Hills during the 2022 season after serving seven years as a successful head coach at high schools in Mississippi and Tennessee. Turner’s hiring was approved by Sheridan’s Board of Education at its regular monthly meeting Monday, April 10.
As a head coach, Turner has compiled a 75-20 record, averaging 10.7 wins per year. He has a 15-7 record in the playoffs and has led to teams to either the state championship game or semi-finals six of his seven years as a head coach. His teams have a 37-7 conference record. He has had 33 players sign to play college football, including 13 Division I signees. Turner also has a history of turning around football programs that have had losing records.
“We are excited to hire someone of Coach Turner’s caliber,” said Dr. Karla Neathery, superintendent of the Sheridan School District. “In addition to his remarkable winning record, Coach Turner has outstanding character references and a dynamic personality. Coach Turner is a player’s coach, will be a great ambassador for our school and community, and is the perfect person to take the Sheridan football program to a new, higher level.”
Turner entered coaching as an assistant at Wynne, where he was responsible for linebackers and served as strength coach for teams that went a combined 42-9 from 2011-2014. He received his first opportunity as a head coach at Liberty Tech Magnet High School, a Class 3A program in Jackson, Tenn. In his first year at Liberty Tech, he led the team to its first undefeated regular season in school history, won a conference championship, made it to the state semifinals, and finished 13-1 overall. He was the youngest coach to ever be named West Tennessee Coach of the Year for all sports. He followed that with a state runner-up finish the following season before taking the head coaching position at Olive Branch, Miss.
At Olive Branch, Turner inherited a team with a 14-game losing streak and orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in the history of Mississippi high school football. In his first year at Olive Branch, his team went 12-2, was ranked No. 3 in the state, and its only two losses were both to the eventual Class 5A state champion. Olive Branch outscored opponents 463-199 compared to the previous year when they were outscored 177-381. In three years at Olive Branch, his teams were 33-8 compared to 11-23 in the three years prior to his arrival.
In one year at Goodpasture Christian School in Madison, Tenn., he went 9-3. Goodpasture had gone 7-26 in the three years before he arrived. In one year at Jackson Prep in Flowood, Miss., he took a team with three returning starters and went 8-5 and advanced to the state semifinals, setting numerous school offensive records in the process.
Turner received his bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State University and is nearing completion of his master’s degree in Educational Leadership.