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Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 11:20 am
by ProvoAggie

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 11:38 am
by mcaggie1
Chuck was hired about the time Lou Holtz was hired to coach Notre Dame. Three months before Sheltons first spring game, I had dinner with Lou Holtz at our National Sales meeting. He was there as our Company' keynote speaker at the awards banquet.

I asked him if he knew Chuck Shelton. Lou said "Yes, very well." I asked him if he thought Chuck could be a winning coach at USU. He told me that absolutely Chuck could win at USU. But only if he had money, some better facilities and at least near full stadiums.

We all know that Chuck never had those things. I liked Chuck, and I thought he recruited some pretty good players, but just not enough. I pretty much agree with Lou. If Shelton had the support that we have now.....who knows where he could have taken us?

Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 11:43 am
by AGGIEinIOWA
Rest In Peace Coach Shelton! Chuck’s last year (‘91) was my freshman year at USU. I remember his hat. Interesting how good of career record he had in conference (60%) but how awful our non-conf record was (1-23). Then again our non-conf schedule in 1991 was @ Utah, @ Nebraska, @ Oklahoma, and @ BYU. None of those at home. We played two body bag P5 road games a year (typically they were ranked) besides Utah and BYU. Glad the days of only 4-5 home games a year is over. I think with better resources he could have done a lot. The one non-conference game he won was at Missouri in 1990. Ironically Missouri was his home state.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 11:51 am
by oleblu111
Chuck had nothing when he coached here, no money, terrible facilities. He holds a lot of credit for getting Jim Laub involved in Aggie football in fact I believe Chuck is Jim's son's godfather, so that was a major plus in Shelton's tenure at USU.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 12:30 pm
by OCDAggie
Did Chuck Shelton or one of his staff recruit Bobby Wagner to USU?

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 12:36 pm
by USU78
Shelton -> Weatherbie -> Smith -> Arslanian -> Guy -> Andy Numero Uno -> Wells -> Andy Numero Dos

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 2:01 pm
by NavyBlueAggie
mcaggie1 wrote:
February 14th, 2020, 11:38 am
Chuck was hired about the time Lou Holtz was hired to coach Notre Dame. Three months before Sheltons first spring game, I had dinner with Lou Holtz at our National Sales meeting. He was there as our Company' keynote speaker at the awards banquet.

I asked him if he knew Chuck Shelton. Lou said "Yes, very well." I asked him if he thought Chuck could be a winning coach at USU. [b]He told me that absolutely Chuck could win at USU. But only if he had money, some better facilities and at least near full stadiums.[/b]

We all know that Chuck never had those things. I liked Chuck, and I thought he recruited some pretty good players, but just not enough. I pretty much agree with Lou. If Shelton had the support that we have now.....who knows where he could have taken us?
Chuck soldiered on and kept his mouth shut about the very small budget we then had at Utah State. Stanford Cazier was the school president at the time, and Stanford had little interest in a successful AGGIE Football program to advance the public profile of USU. Thank you for your post McAggie.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 2:36 pm
by Naked Bull Rider
OCDAggie wrote:
February 14th, 2020, 12:30 pm
Did Chuck Shelton or one of his staff recruit Bobby Wagner to USU?
Sure did. Bobby was showing a lot of promise as a 1-year old in California's diaper-league. Lol. :lol:

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 3:08 pm
by Smokin Joe
He took over from Chris Pella ( a disaster) and I remember Coach Shelton commenting that when he got here the players literally didn't even know how to tackle. He was a great coach. I especially remember him beating Utah---twice I think---and the players stomping on the "U" in the Rice Stadium end-zone.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 6:03 pm
by FireAg
I was at USU during the Shelton years and, no doubt about it, he did the best he could with the cards he was dealt. One thing FOR SURE: they will bury him in the GROUND.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 7:29 pm
by cdaAg
He had the first Aggie victory over a top 25 team in my lifetime. I'm still amazed we won that game. Chuck did lay a foundation for Weatherbie to have some success.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 7:31 pm
by WasatchAggie
I always respected him. RIP coach.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 10:57 pm
by bucky
He sent me for xmas aggie hemet decals. My dad wrote to him to tell him thanks after he got fired and he told him how big of an aggie fan i was and he sent those to me. Ill always remember how excited i was to get those. It was awesome. Thanks coach

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 11:26 am
by FloridaAggie13
I interviewed coach Shelton a few times in the winter of 1991. He truly believed in and practiced the idea of student-athlete and sincerely cared about his athletes getting an education telling me maybe 1% would play pro ball. He said he develops far more doctors and lawyers than professional athletes. That made sense.

Regarding paying college football players he said his sympathies were with the mothers and fathers with families while attending college and working a full-time job, not the athlete on scholarship.

His last recruiting classes laid the foundation for Weatherbie's teams - Jermaine Younger, Toney Jenkins, Cotie McMahon, etc.

Good person.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 11:50 am
by NavyBlueAggie
bucky wrote:
February 14th, 2020, 10:57 pm
He sent me for xmas aggie hemet decals. My dad wrote to him to tell him thanks after he got fired and he told him how big of an aggie fan i was and he sent those to me. Ill always remember how excited i was to get those. It was awesome. Thanks coach
I believe Coach Shelton resigned and was certainly not fired, after USU school president Stanford Cazier vacillated over extending the contract for Coach Shelton. His resignation caused some real stress inside USU and our Athletic Department.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 7:24 pm
by swordsman1989
AGGIEinIOWA wrote:
February 14th, 2020, 11:43 am
Rest In Peace Coach Shelton! Chuck’s last year (‘91) was my freshman year at USU. I remember his hat. Interesting how good of career record he had in conference (60%) but how awful our non-conf record was (1-23). Then again our non-conf schedule in 1991 was @ Utah, @ Nebraska, @ Oklahoma, and @ BYU. None of those at home. We played two body bag P5 road games a year (typically they were ranked) besides Utah and BYU. Glad the days of only 4-5 home games a year is over. I think with better resources he could have done a lot. The one non-conference game he won was at Missouri in 1990. Ironically Missouri was his home state.
USU lost, badly, to Missouri in 1990. The score was 45-10 Missouri. Shelton's only OOC win was in 1987 against Utah, winning 41-36.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 7:30 pm
by AGGIEinIOWA
swordsman1989 wrote:
AGGIEinIOWA wrote:
February 14th, 2020, 11:43 am
Rest In Peace Coach Shelton! Chuck’s last year (‘91) was my freshman year at USU. I remember his hat. Interesting how good of career record he had in conference (60%) but how awful our non-conf record was (1-23). Then again our non-conf schedule in 1991 was @ Utah, @ Nebraska, @ Oklahoma, and @ BYU. None of those at home. We played two body bag P5 road games a year (typically they were ranked) besides Utah and BYU. Glad the days of only 4-5 home games a year is over. I think with better resources he could have done a lot. The one non-conference game he won was at Missouri in 1990. Ironically Missouri was his home state.
USU lost, badly, to Missouri in 1990. The score was 45-10 Missouri. Shelton's only OOC win was in 1987 against Utah, winning 41-36.
Wikipedia must be wrong then. Says we lost at Missouri in 1988 but beat them in 1990 by a score of 45-10. I thought that was a surprising win!

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 10:27 pm
by Donman
His contract wasn't renewed. Announcement made after we lost to Fullerton.

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Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 16th, 2020, 11:44 am
by oleblu111
The facts on the Shelton record and contract renewal. He did beat Utah once, and never beat Missouri, he played back to back revenue games every season he was coach.no lower division schools.

In the tail end of the season He had a meeting with the president, if memory serves he had year to year contract he wanted a multi year deal, which was refused. He then resigned then beat Fresno which was ranked in the top 25, and unbeaten, The president called and wanted to talk about what he wanted he refused and went to Pacific.

Back then the facilities were horrible, we had no money, no school support It was a very tough time, back then.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 16th, 2020, 12:40 pm
by NavyBlueAggie
Thank you oleblu. You stirred some of my synapses to close, and close they finally did. Chuck got a good deal of favorable press after USU school president Stanford Cazier continued to not do the job a school president should have been doing. As part of the then "WASATCH AGGIES" it was a blow to all involved to see Chuck leave Logan.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 16th, 2020, 2:33 pm
by swordsman1989
NavyBlueAggie wrote:
February 16th, 2020, 12:40 pm
Thank you oleblu. You stirred some of my synapses to close, and close they finally did. Chuck got a good deal of favorable press after USU school president Stanford Cazier continued to not do the job a school president should have been doing. As part of the then "WASATCH AGGIES" it was a blow to all involved to see Chuck leave Logan.
Stanford Cazier was probably the worst president USU has ever had when it comes to athletics. I can't speak to how he did in other aspects of administering the University. But certainly with athletics, he was abysmal. It took USU decades to recover from his failings, and in many ways we are still dealing with his failures.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 16th, 2020, 4:16 pm
by mcaggie1
swordsman1989 wrote:
February 16th, 2020, 2:33 pm
NavyBlueAggie wrote:
February 16th, 2020, 12:40 pm
Thank you oleblu. You stirred some of my synapses to close, and close they finally did. Chuck got a good deal of favorable press after USU school president Stanford Cazier continued to not do the job a school president should have been doing. As part of the then "WASATCH AGGIES" it was a blow to all involved to see Chuck leave Logan.
Stanford Cazier was probably the worst president USU has ever had when it comes to athletics. I can't speak to how he did in other aspects of administering the University. But certainly with athletics, he was abysmal. It took USU decades to recover from his failings, and in many ways we are still dealing with his failures.
Cazier wasn't THAT good. :lol:

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 16th, 2020, 9:03 pm
by FloridaAggie13
swordsman1989 wrote:
February 16th, 2020, 2:33 pm
NavyBlueAggie wrote:
February 16th, 2020, 12:40 pm
Thank you oleblu. You stirred some of my synapses to close, and close they finally did. Chuck got a good deal of favorable press after USU school president Stanford Cazier continued to not do the job a school president should have been doing. As part of the then "WASATCH AGGIES" it was a blow to all involved to see Chuck leave Logan.
Stanford Cazier was probably the worst president USU has ever had when it comes to athletics. I can't speak to how he did in other aspects of administering the University. But certainly with athletics, he was abysmal. It took USU decades to recover from his failings, and in many ways we are still dealing with his failures.
Under Cazier they seriously looked into the economics of simply dropping football altogether.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 17th, 2020, 9:24 pm
by NVAggie
I remember seeing Shelton at the gas station south of town...Trailside? He was getting a soda and I recognized him from his hat. I said hello and shook his hand as a young Aggie. He was very nice.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 1:04 pm
by GUS
Wasn't it Cazier that turned into an alcoholic after his wife died?

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 1:08 pm
by AgMan21
NVAggie wrote:
February 17th, 2020, 9:24 pm
I remember seeing Shelton at the gas station south of town...Trailside? He was getting a soda and I recognized him from his hat. I said hello and shook his hand as a young Aggie. He was very nice.
I really thought this was going to turn into a "Matt Wells at Maverick" story.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 1:38 pm
by blueblood
GUS wrote:Wasn't it Cazier that turned into an alcoholic after his wife died?
Part of the reason that I am an Aggie is because of President Cazier. My dad took a job at USU in the early 80’s with a recommendation from Stan. I struggle with my feelings about him every time he comes up in an athletic discussion because of the personal relationship that my parents had with his family. They were in the same ward as his family when they lived in Chico, CA.

If I remember correctly his personal life basically fell completely apart after he retired as president. His wife developed early onset Alzheimer’s and passed away. One of his son’s was in medical school and based on his symptoms diagnosed himself as having and inoperable brain tumor and then passed away within a year or two. Their other son has/had a severe case of schizophrenia.


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Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 2:02 pm
by NVAggie
AgMan21 wrote:
February 18th, 2020, 1:08 pm
NVAggie wrote:
February 17th, 2020, 9:24 pm
I remember seeing Shelton at the gas station south of town...Trailside? He was getting a soda and I recognized him from his hat. I said hello and shook his hand as a young Aggie. He was very nice.
I really thought this was going to turn into a "Matt Wells at Maverick" story.
That is QAA territory.

Re: Chuck Shelton Passed Away

Posted: February 21st, 2020, 3:06 pm
by swordsman1989
blueblood wrote:
February 18th, 2020, 1:38 pm
GUS wrote:Wasn't it Cazier that turned into an alcoholic after his wife died?
Part of the reason that I am an Aggie is because of President Cazier. My dad took a job at USU in the early 80’s with a recommendation from Stan. I struggle with my feelings about him every time he comes up in an athletic discussion because of the personal relationship that my parents had with his family. They were in the same ward as his family when they lived in Chico, CA.

If I remember correctly his personal life basically fell completely apart after he retired as president. His wife developed early onset Alzheimer’s and passed away. One of his son’s was in medical school and based on his symptoms diagnosed himself as having and inoperable brain tumor and then passed away within a year or two. Their other son has/had a severe case of schizophrenia.


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I certainly do not wish to speak poorly about the man on a personal level. He may very well have been a wonderful person. He may also have done great things for other aspects of the university. My comment was strictly about his stewardship over the athletic department during his tenure as president of the university. Very sorry to hear of the issues in his personal life.