Adam Tom
2nd season

Adam Tom joins the Cardinal coaching staff in 2008 for his first stint at Saginaw Valley.

Adam graduated from Bellefontaine HS in Ohio in 2000 where he played baseball and football. At the time of his graduation, Adam held the school batting average record with a .435 average.

Adam attended college at the University of Kentucky where he graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education degree with a kinesiology major and a business minor.

In 2006, Adam enrolled at Central Michigan University to pursue a Masters of Science in Sports Administration. He graduated earlier this year.

Dan Shelton begins his sixth season with the Cardinal baseball team and is in his second stint as an assistant coach. Shelton was head baseball coach at Mott Community College for five years after serving 18 years at Clio High School, including 13 as head coach. Shelton compiled a 473-303 career coaching record.

He was twice named Coach of the Year by the Michigan Community College Eastern Conference and led Mott to three league titles. In addition he was named Coach of the Year five times in high school at the district level and twice at the regional level. Shelton was selected as an All-Star coach in Flint six times and coached the East-West All-Star Game in Tiger Stadium in 1994. His teams won six district championships and one regional crown.

After graduating from Ainsworth High School he attended Mott and Anderson University in Indiana where he played football and basketball before an injury shortened his career. Shelton and his wife, Charisse, live in Flint.

 Dan Smith
1st season

Dan Smith joins the Cardinal staff as an assistant after spending the last eight seasons as the head coach at St. Louis High School. While at St. Louis, his team compiled a 174-75 record winning four league titles and one district title. Those clubs also finished ranked in the Top 10in Michigan for five of the eight seasons Smith was at the helm, and were named an academic all-state team for three seasons in a row. He also has coached the St. Louis Spirit's over-18 club to a 131-48 record in that span collecting two league titles.

In the sumer of 2008, he coached the Central Michigan All-Stars to District, State and North Zone championships before finishing in righth place in the Colt World Series.

He is a 1993 graduate of Breckenridge High School and a 1997 graduate of Olivet College, where he played baseball for the Comets before earning a bachelor's degree in Business Communication. He resides in North Porter with his wife, Mindy, and daughters Summer and Allison.

     Reed Welker
     1st Season

Reed Welker begins his coaching career with the Cardinals this year after four years as a player.  Welker was a three year starter under Coach Head, starting every game as a sophomore, junior and senior.  During his career at Saginaw Valley, Welker was named First Team All-GLIAC twice and All-American for his record-breaking senior campaign.  He is the current single season home run record holder after hitting 14 in the 2008 season, and also places in the top 10 in five categories for career statistics, including home runs (21), batting average (.354), hits (185), doubles (47) and at-bats (522).  

After his career at Saginaw Valley, Welker was signed by the Traverse City Beach Bums, a member of the Frontier League.  He will be continuing his professional career with the Beach Bums this summer.

Welker is also scheduled to graduate with a Criminal Justice bachelor’s degree in the fall of 2009.