Hedden inks scholarship with Tusculum University


Cole Hedden makes it official, signing his letter of intent last Thursday to play tennis at Tusculum University. Pictured with Hedden are his parents, Melissa and Bryan Hedden, and Clinton High School tennis Coach Matt Neal (standing).
The good ones always get more than one offer.

For Clinton High School’s Cole Hedden, it came down to how he wanted to spend his college career, and Tusculum University had what he wanted.

“They’re always playing for a league championship,” Hedden said during a signing ceremony last week in the Clinton High School Little Theater.

“I loved all the campuses I visited, but Tusculum competes at a high level year in and year out, and that’s what I was looking for,” he said.

Hedden has been playing tennis since a young age, but started playing in a “team format” in middle school and has been a four-year starter for the Dragons.

“Schools really started looking at him last year when they all shut their programs down due to the pandemic,” said Matt Neal, head tennis coach at CHS. “There were several schools interested in Cole.

“I think he made a good decision.”

Other schools offering scholarships to Hedden were Mars Hill and Carson-Newman.