[MHS Parent4Life]

Hello. This is Brad Shelton. I am not on message boards normally, but I heard this thread was out there. I am not sure if it is the most professional thing to do, but I want to defend our program and school a little. I want to respond to this post specifically because high school kids that we recruit may see it. I want to be clear to those kids that I am planning to be at UC for a long time and we have a nice place with excellent funding. Your post doesn't clearly express what we have at UC. I actually did get in to college coaching because I wanted to coach at this level. The University of the Cumberlands is where I plan to retire from in 20+ years or as long as they will have me. While Whitley has excellent facilities and funding, (some of the best in the state) I would argue that we have excellent facilities as well. We have some of the best in small college baseball in this part of the country. We have a newly lighted baseball field, brand new weight room, a nice indoor facility and a locker room. Our operations budget and scholarship budget are excellent and can compete with many Division 1 programs. Our President and Athletic Director are committed to winning championships in all of our sports. This is a great place. Your post wasn't extremely positive about Cumberlands, so I wanted to share a little. If you'd like to come tour our campus and facilities, give me a call or email and I would love to show you.

I enjoy coaching my sons in the summer, but I have no desire to deal with the issues high school coaches have to deal with. I have great respect for what they do with very little appreciation shown to them. I have always supported Coach Adams, and his coaching staff at Whitley and I will support the new coaching staff at Whitley.

I hope there are numerous qualified applicants for the job. I hope they find a great teacher who is also a great coach. The role of high school coach is much more than practices and games. It is an opportunity to invest in young people and build relationships that prepare those young men for real life.

I don't plan to get back on here to argue or voice my opinions anymore. Just wanted to clear some things up. Proceed with your debate.....

I know Coach Shelton doesn't intend to respond so I will keep this brief; I made no mention of anything negative regarding UC. I merely pointed out that in many regards, WCHS was actually better off. i wasn't arguing that UC's budget was low as much as I was pointing out that Whitley's was an absolute dream. I did not denigrate UC's facilities in any way but just pointed out how elite WCHS's facilities were. My apologies to Coach for not making leaving a wisp negativity surrounding UC. That was not my intention. I merely wanted to stir up a discussion on an internet message board regarding why an argument could be made for Shelton to want to coach his sons at Whitley. I conceded that it was a very low chance of happening and that I was merely posing it as an argument that could be made.