Five big questions facing new Morehead State AD Kelly Wells

Two times over the course of his ultra-successful basketball coaching career, Kelly Wells applied to be the men’s hoops head man at Morehead State.

Twice his college alma mater rejected him — even though Wells had won a high school state championship (at Mason County in 2003) and a NAIA national title (at the University of Pikeville in 2011) as a head coach.

However, on his third try at working for the university on whose campus he essentially grew up, Wells scored. It was announced Friday that Wells, the current athletics director at UPike, will start the same job at Morehead State on July 1.

“This is a great lesson for the world about not burning bridges and not sulking and pouting” when things don’t initially go your way, Wells said Friday.

The Morehead State ties Wells will bring to his new job run deep. Both his late parents spent their careers working at MSU. Doris Wells was a longtime administrative assistant, while Mickey Wells remains the all-time winningest women’s hoops coach in Morehead State history.

After starting his own college basketball career playing for Tulsa, Kelly Wells transferred home and played three seasons (1992-1995) at MSU for Dick Fick. While a Morehead student, Wells met an Eagles women’s hoops player, Shawne Marcum, who eventually became his wife.

With so many connections to Morehead State, a chance to be the university’s athletics director has “a lot more emotion tied to it (than another job might),” Wells said. “And I believe when passion is involved, a lot of great things happen.”

In a late Friday afternoon phone conversation, Wells gave his thoughts about five questions relating to the future of Morehead State sports (some answers are edited for clarity and/or brevity).

Question: After Preston Spradlin coached MSU men’s basketball to the 2021 OVC Tournament title, the 2023 league regular-season crown and a subsequent NIT road upset of Clemson, he signed a contract extension through 2026-27. What’s your plan to try to keep Spradlin in place at Morehead?

Wells: “We are going to recruit him on a daily basis. That’s what we are going to do. (Spradlin) has just been an amazing, uplifting person as well as one of those campus-impact people who are just critical to what we are trying to do.”

Question: Ever since Morehead State announced in 1994 that it was transitioning to non-scholarship football, there have been MSU alumni lobbying for a return to awarding pigskin scholarships and resuming participation in the Ohio Valley Conference (MSU presently plays football in the non-scholarship Pioneer League with most of its other sports still competing in the OVC).

What are your views on the future of football at Morehead State?

Wells: “I don’t want to get my cart before my horse, not even seeing a budget yet, but I think it is critically important to listen to our alums and listen to our leadership and try to figure out what those pathways (moving forward) look like.

“The best pathway might be (to stay) exactly where we are at. It may be a transition back into the OVC. I know there are a lot of alums who would like to see that. And I am sure I will get an opportunity to meet with our alums who are convicted and our fans who are convicted (on the topic of scholarship football).”

Question: With Eastern Kentucky (to the ASUN) and Murray State (to the Missouri Valley Conference) having each left the OVC two years ago, is the Ohio Valley Conference still the best fit for Morehead State now that MSU is the only Kentucky school remaining?

Wells: “It’s different. Obviously, when you look at the teams that are currently in the OVC versus the teams that were in there when I was playing, it is a … different collection. … Some of our natural rivals have left the OVC and (gone) to some other leagues. I’m not exactly sure what their institutional decision-making reasons were, but I think we are pretty happy in the OVC.

“We are a founding member of (the OVC), so I think we’ve got a strong position in terms of opportunity and leadership (in the league). My goal is for us to be the pinnacle of the league. When people think of the OVC, I want them to think of Morehead State.”

Question: Given that Morehead State and ancient-rival EKU have not played men’s basketball since the Colonels left the OVC in 2021, can the new AD at MSU do anything to get that series restarted?

Wells: “Certainly, that rivalry is important to a lot of people in the commonwealth. Already, the athletics director at EKU (Matt Roan) and myself have had conversation. The previous (MSU) athletic administration has had conversations (with Eastern), too.

“But I like to give autonomy to our coaches to be able to make those (scheduling) decisions. (Whatever) Coach Spradlin wants to do, I’ll support him all the way.”

Question: So when you start as MSU AD on July 1, what is “job one” for you?

Wells: “No question, it is relationships, trying to rekindle all of those. Trying to get our people back (involved with MSU athletics). Our alums are a major, major focus of what I am going to try and do — work along with our amazing staff to try and ignite the Morehead fan base again.”

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