(This is the fifth in a large series of profile stories planned for 2023 to introduce the Chelsea community to the folks who keep it humming each day. We want you to learn more about Chelsea as a community — as told through the eyes, ears and voices of many different people.)
By Lisa Allmendinger
Brad Bush began his new job as assistant director for the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) last month, but his 26-year legacy in Chelsea – as an educator, football coach, administrator and athletic director – will endure.
So let’s start at the very beginning.
When the Chelsea opportunity presented itself in 1997, Bush was a teacher and football coach at East Kentwood High School.
Wayne Welton interviewed Bush when the school was looking for both a social studies teacher and a head football coach after Gene LaFave retired. He and Ron Mead, (the high school principal at that time) began an exhaustive search for an elite teacher and “a new voice for our football program.”
Welton and Mead put Bush through at least five separate interviews before hiring him – one that included having Bush demonstrate how to “teach” a form tackle to one of the interview team members, who was twice Brad’s size and strength.
Fast forward 20 or so years and in 22 seasons as the head football coach, Bush led the Bulldogs to a 169-60 record, 13 league championships, 18 playoff appearances, seven district titles and a division 3 runner-up finish in 2015.
Along the way, Welton retired as well and Bush became the Chelsea athletic director, and supervised a staff of 110 coaches across 31 programs, with nearly 70 percent of the high school’s 800 students participating in athletics.
When asked to think back to his first day on the job as athletic director Bush said, “I just remember having a real sense that I wanted to uphold a long tradition of doing things the right way, and keeping Chelsea athletics as one of the best athletic departments in the state. That standard of excellence that so many people had worked hard to build was something I could feel.”
And excellence is just one of the many superlatives used to describe Bush’s career in Chelsea.
Mike Kapolka, superintendent of Chelsea Schools, called Brad “the epitome of excellence. His standard for how our athletic department functions collaboratively has ingrained the same level of integrity, trust, commitment and pride in how our coaches interact with one another.”
Luman Strong, assistant principal at Chelsea High School, agreed.
“Brad is a program builder. He was able to build the football program into a state contender and then subsequently, the high school athletic program as a whole as one recognized around the state for its excellence and achievement.”
Nick Angel worked with Bush as both Beach Middle School’s principal and most recently, as the high school principal.
He said, “I have had the pleasure of working with Brad in a variety of capacities over my last 15 years in the Chelsea Schools. What Brad has brought to the table here in Chelsea is both seen and unseen. As the middle school principal for 10 years, I worked with Brad on ensuring that we had equitable opportunities for our students, that our facilities and resources matched the high standards of our high school counterparts, that our coaching staff was supported and mentored and most importantly that our student-athletes understood the importance of what it meant to be a Bulldog.”
John Dignan, Wayne-Westland Community Schools superintendent, said, “I have had the pleasure of knowing Brad Bush both personally and professionally my whole life. Brad is a hardworking, honest individual who puts others’ needs in front of his own.”
Dignan called Bush “a tireless worker who consistently exceeds expectations set for him and does it with character and class.”
Bush even made believers of rival coaches and AD’s.
Lincoln Consolidated Schools athletic director and head football coach Chris Westfall said, “My perspective might be the most interesting in this group, because my relationship with Brad started in a negative way.”
When Westfall met Bush, he was the coach of the most successful program in the area, he said, “And as an opponent, I found him elitist and arrogant. I’ve grown enough now to know that my jealousy and envy were the problem – but I’ve never apologized for it. It’s funny to think he may only really know this if he reads this now.”
Westfall continued, “It’s become clear that the success of his football program, and now the success of the Chelsea Athletic Department, are the gold standard because of his work.”
Current and former Chelsea High School coaches credit Bush for the tremendous support they were shown.
Current Bulldog Head Football Coach Josh Lucas a perfect example. He was hired in 2018 as the new coach when Bush retired from his high school coaching position.
Lucas had big shoes to fill, but Bush believed in him, and Lucas stepped up in a big way. Lucas led the Bulldogs to the team’s first state championship in program history and was named the 2021 Detroit Lions’ High School Football Coach of the Year.
“Working alongside Brad for the last five years has been an honor and a privilege,” Lucas said. “Like I said when I got hired, I can’t replace Brad – all I can do is do my best to keep the tradition of the program going and represent this program with class and respect like he did.”
And that gold standard of respect for all teams and all athletes is something Bush said was very important to him. By all accounts, he succeeded in this goal as well.
Multi-sport coach Shane Rodriguez works with student-athletes at both the middle school and high school levels. He said, “Brad Bush’s tenure at Chelsea Schools has been nothing short of incredible, and his success is not measured in the myriad championships he has coached and overseen, but in the character and impact he has had on the entire culture of Chelsea Schools.”
The most impressive component of Bush’s leadership, Rodriquez said, “is his ability to lead while being locked side by side with his colleagues. Brad’s leadership is seen not from an ivory tower, but on the sidelines almost every night of the week at Chelsea athletic events.”
Chelsea High School Head Baseball Coach Adam Taylor agreed. “I have worked with Brad my entire 22-year career at Chelsea. He has been an incredible leader, mentor, and friend. During Brad’s time at Chelsea, he has raised the standards for Chelsea’s football program, physical education department, and set the bar even higher for our entire athletic department.”
Former volleyball coach Laura Cleveland had this to say about Bush: “Brad’s positive outlook, vision for the future of Chelsea and his ability to develop relationships is his trademark. I feel fortunate to have worked alongside him as I learned a lot, laughed a lot, especially with Adam Taylor there, and was supported as a teacher and coach throughout his term.”
These sentiments echo what Kapolka believes – “Brad’s greatest legacy and contribution to the Chelsea School District over the past 26 years resides in the lasting relationships he has built with former students, players, coaches and parents.”
Here’s what Matt Pedlow, former head varsity tennis coach, had to say about Bush’s support of athletics district-wide.
“In the 20 plus seasons I coached a sport at CHS, I met a number of athletic directors from other schools. Every one of them had nothing but admiration for the job Brad was doing at Chelsea … From a coach’s perspective, Brad was everything you would ever want in an AD – supportive, caring, and equitable to all sports.”
Wayne Welton’s son, Joe, played for Bush during the 2004-05 seasons and is a current teacher and coach at Saline High School. He said, “It is the honor of a lifetime to talk about my relationship with Coach Bush. He has and always will be, a special person in my life. My mentor, my coach, teacher and I feel so lucky to call him friend. In life, you don’t find many people that you respect enough that you’d give up your bed for (when coach was first hired, I had the couch, Coach Bush took the bed).”
And it’s those lasting relationships that Bush cultivated while at Chelsea, which he said he will treasure.
Bush also wanted to thank all the volunteers who help make all of the games possible in Chelsea. “There have been so many great parents that work games, take tickets, work in the concession stand, etc. Those people are the unsung heroes of our athletic program.”
What folks might not know is that Bush served as an assistant football coach and recruiting coordinator for Eastern Michigan University during the 2003-04 school year, and as an assistant coach at Albion College, which won two league titles and an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Division III playoffs.
Bush will serve as the MHSAA’s lead administrator for baseball and also among lead administrators for the officials’ program, which includes more than 8,000 registered officials in all sports. He will be assigned additional duties in other sports based on his vast experiences.
“The MHSAA is getting one of the best men I have met during this 45 years (and more) career in athletic and education,” Welton said. “He is simply ‘the best.’ Chelsea will miss him and his many contributions.”
Westfall agrees. “Over the past decade, I’ve grown an immense respect for Brad’s ability as a coach and leader and I’m now honored to consider him a mentor and friend. The jealousy and envy is still there – but now it’s for his unrelenting work ethic, tremendous vision, and allegiance to integrity.
“Chelsea Schools and the Southeastern Conference are losing a big centerpiece to our programs, but we are all gaining a huge advocate for student-athletes statewide,” Westfall said.
Jason Morris, dean of students at Chelsea High School and the assistant athletic director said, “I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Brad in various capacities over the past 21 years. He is the epitome of what it is to be a Chelsea Bulldog. The accomplishments Brad has had are simply astounding and can never truly be measured in terms of the impact he has had on the Chelsea School District and community. I am going to miss working with him a lot.
“However, I know the MHSAA has a winner on their hands and he will continue to do great things at the state level,” Morris said.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition.
“The MHSAA is so fortunate to be adding Brad to their staff,” said Tracie Stoffer, administrative assistant for the athletic department. “Although I am going to miss him terribly here in the office, I’m excited that he will be in a position to reach more people at the state-wide level. The world needs more of the Brad Bush influence. It would be selfish to keep him all to ourselves in Chelsea.”
But perhaps Welton summed it up the best, “Personally, it has been my pleasure to have been Coach Bush’s mentor, his colleague, his friend, and his confidante. Brad is a leader among leaders. He is calm in the face of the storm. … The Chelsea Football program has experienced an amazing run of success. That success, including the most recent State Championship in 2021, was due to Brad’s tireless energy and his vision. Brad Bush is one of my very best friends. I value our friendship and admire Brad’s career accomplishments. He has left a legacy for all of Chelsea to be proud of.”
Bush says he’s looking forward to the new challenge at MHSAA, and he and his wife, Laura, plan to continue attending Chelsea athletic events.
Once a Bulldog, Always a Bulldog.
(So many people contributed so many wonderful and lengthy tributes to Brad Bush that I was only able to use a small portion of what each person said in this story. He will be forwarded all of their tributes in their entirety.)
