A letter from former Ronan softball coach Brad Benson

After the articles in the Leader and Missoulian, I feel like I owe the community a brief explanation.

Anyone who knows me knows that softball is my passion — talking about it, coaching it and watching it. Making the decision to resign is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. However, I could not continue to be an effective coach with all of the negative comments, which were primarily from parents and some of the players.

I resigned because the only feedback I was hearing was that I was no longer wanted by some players and their parents as a coach. The amount of disrespect was overwhelming. It was beginning to cause issues at practice and in games.

I resigned for the sake of the entire team.

I truly hope for nothing more than for the Ronan team to have a successful season and continue to do well in the years to come. I care about each and every one of these girls and felt that stepping down would eliminate the negativity and drama and just let the girls play softball.