UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage has established a clear pattern in his head coach hirings, focusing over the last decade on hiring young, up-and-coming energetic coaches to lead all his programs, from men’s tennis to football.
At Monticello, presented with the chance to re-work most of his department’s most visible leadership positions this spring, athletic director Fitzgerald Barnes went a similar route, hiring young, energetic coaches — two of them already on his staff — to head up the football, boys basketball and girls basketball programs. He made the basketball hires official Friday.
“I think we’ve just hired maybe the two best young coaches in the area and you’ll see that both teams are going to be fundamentally sound,” Barnes said. “So I’m very excited and our student-athletes should be very excited. I think we’ve probably made one of the best moves that we’ve had overall in hiring some of the best and brightest young coaches that I feel are available out there today.”
Monticello appointed Josh McElheny and Robert Shelton to coach the girls and boys programs respectively, with McElheny moving just a seat over on the Mustangs bench. He served as the associate head coach under Mike Mountjoy last season for Monticello, a team that played in the Jefferson District championship game and advanced to the Region II playoffs. McElheny was also an assistant and head junior varsity coach in the Western Albemarle girls program for three years before joining Mountjoy’s staff.
“I hope that’s going to be something that’s to my advantage,” McElheny said. “I know they’re ready to go, get in the gym, get summer camps lined up — I’ll send an email as soon as I get home and get it started.”
Shelton, who also has extensive local ties having played under Barnes at Louisa County High before suiting up for Ohio State and Virginia Commonwealth, most recently served as an assistant for the boys varsity squad at Clover Hill in Midlothian. He lives in Louisa County, running for a non-profit health services company, a position that allows for the flexibility to coach at Monticello and work remotely from the school at times.
“I’m always working with people and that just gives me an extra crutch working with teenagers,” Shelton said.
Shelton, who takes over for former coach Kareem Martin, served as the head junior varsity coach at Clover Hill before moving to the varsity bench and also worked at Douglas Freeman in Henrico as an assistant and head freshman team coach. He’s served as an AAU coach with various programs since 2001. Taking over his first varsity program is a welcome challenge for the young coach.
“I appreciate Monticello and the administration for giving me this opportunity,” Shelton said. “We’re going to get after it from day one, whether it’s open gyms, camps, whatever, and turn basketball up another level here at Monticello.”
The two hirings complete the new-look athletic department, joining newly-named football coach Rodney Redd, who like McElheny was elevated from an assistant coach spot to the top job.
Both basketball coaches take over similar situations, with both programs stocked with young talent and apparently on the rise, with both earning region playoff berths in 2011. The girls program is led by first-team all-Jefferson District guard Bridgett Holleran, a rising junior, while the boys program boasts a pair of rising junior guards, Jhalil Mosley and Denzel Terry, who should give each program stability over the next couple of years.
But the real work will come form Shelton and McElheny, who face the task of leading Monticello’s basketball programs into an entirely new era.
