Former Valdosta Touchdown Club Director Speaks Out

In a recent interview with ITG Next, former Valdosta Touchdown Club Director Michael “Nub” Nelson talked about what led to his impromptu recording of a conversation between himself and Valdosta head football coach Rush Propst that has, in part, led to Propst being placed on administrative leave with pay, has left Nelson himself searching for a new job, and has the Wildcat football program and its supporters reeling from the fallout of it all.

Nelson, who had been with the Touchdown Club for a total of 17 years, including the last three as its paid director, said he became suspicious of comments Propst had made in front of the Touchdown Club’s board of directors about his vision for the group moving forward.

“We had invited Rush to come meet them (board of directors) at the museum on the night of May 15,” Nelson said. “Rush was talking about how he wanted to organize the club, and it just became this convoluted and very involved process, and there were some things said that I didn’t like very much.”

According to Nelson, he went to Propst’s office that next morning (May 16) to talk more about the ideas and plans that Rush had discussed the previous night. It was then that Nelson made his decision to capture their conversation with the recording.

“I decided right there that I would record our conversation, but I also didn’t try to hide it,” Nelson said. “I took my phone out and set it on my lap and hit record.”

Nelson said that after he and Propst talked about the Touchdown Club for about 10-15 minutes, Propst got up from his desk and closed his office door. Then began the now much-publicized conversation of, among other things, the “funny money.” Nelson said that was the first time he heard that level of detail of Propst’s plans.

“That was really the first time I had heard him talk about those things like that,” Nelson said. “I was shocked at the level he wanted to run this thing. It was just unbelievable.”

For more of the conversation with “Nub” Nelson, be sure to catch Monday’s Extra Point! With Phil Jones on the ITG Next – Georgia Facebook page. The show airs live 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., but you can also find past episodes archived wherever your favorite podcasts are found.