Felton Leaving pursuing his dream

By Joe Joe Wright

joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

It seems sometimes that no sooner than the juice in the plum gets sweetest, than they get over ripe and fall off the tree. Another phrase is “snake bit” yeah that is us. It is with a bitter sweet reluctance that I must tell the people of Crisp County that we just lost our head football coach to the college ranks (Tenn-Chattanooga), but that is precisely what has happened. Shelton Felton brought a sense of winning and energy to Crisp County that hasn’t been seen in a very long time. He rebuilt that which could not be rebuilt. He took the Cougars from zero to hero in seconds. Last fall was like going to Walt Disney World and riding Space Mountain. The intensity surrounding football could be cut with a knife. Excitement was everywhere and every one in our little town got a taste of it.

Well times change and life is always in motion. One cannot blame Coach Felton for leaving it is an opportunity of a lifetime. If you want to be a college football coach you have to first leave high school. Our loss is their gain. Making sure all the kids in the program understand that his family must come first maybe hard for a few of them because, to them he is family. Folks there just ain’t any easy way for this transition to take place. I mean doggone I am 54 years old and it’s bothering me as well. I do know that God knows what he is doing and if John Wayne were standing here right now he would say, “ well you all need to cowboy up!” Shelton is leaving and someone will be taking his place. The community, the team and everyone concerned needs to come together wish Shelton and his family Godspeed in his new challenge, tell them you love them and we will be watching “a son of Crisp County” is taking on a new adventure.

Next up what to do with the leadership of the program. This question has already been asked 6oo times since Monday morning. The answer I believe is let’s sit tight. I believe that moving outside of our own staff and getting a new head coach at this time with a new system would be detrimental to our season. It really is just to late in the game. The best answer I believe would be to promote a temporary head coach, and keep our staff and team continuity together. We have a number of qualified coaches on staff now and it would be a great opportunity for one of them to earn the head job. Anyway the powers that be will make that decision. I can assure the citizens that Shelton has had a deep talk with our kids and though they now understand why he is leaving, they will miss him, as will we all. So now the focus is on the team and the mission Shelton brought to them. Good luck Cougars and Good luck Coach Felton.