McElhaney joins men’s basketball staff as assistant coach
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head men’s basketball coach Chuck Benson has announced the hiring of recent grad Camden McElhaney to be an assistant coach with the program.
VIDEO: Cam McElhaney Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson has announced the hiring of recent grad Camden McElhaney to be an assistant coach with the program.
McElaney takes over for KT Carter, who left in April to become Mars Hill's head men's basketball coach. McElhaney will be focused on defense in his role.
"When KT left to go take over at Mars Hill, we could have gone 100 different directions to fill this position," Benson said. "The relationship and confidence that Mac had established here as a player inevitably led me directly to him as the best possible candidate to step in and help us take the program another step forward. He'd been the consummate teammate and basketball player during his time here as a player, and I know we'll get nothing but excellence from him as a coach moving forward."
A consummate glue guy, McElhaney appeared in 94 games with six career starts for C-N. A career 55.3 percent shooter, he had 154 career points and 230 career rebounds. In his senior season, he produced his first career double-digit rebounding game against Emory & Henry.
"Obviously this is a good place to be," McElhaney said. "I loved this place as a player. When Coach Benson came to me with this opportunity, I couldn't resist. Coach Benson has encouraged me to look at this as year six instead of year one. I'll trust in my experiences as I begin this."
McElhaney is a three-time member of the NABC Honors Court and a CSC Academic All-District selection. He tallied a career-best 10 points as a CoVID-sophomore at Catawba.
McElhaney was a product of Sevier County High School where he helped SCHS to back-to-back district titles, a region title in 2018-19 and an Elite Eight appearance at the state tournament the same year. He was a 1,000-point career scorer for the Smoky Bears.
He wrapped his Carson-Newman career a five-time Eagle Scholar and Dean's List member.
