Category: FCS Audio
Mocs Recovering from Slow Academic Progress Start
Russ Huesman inherited an academic mess when he became the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s football coach in late December. The mess has led to the Mocs being banned from the postseason this fall, and it won’t be cleaned up for at least a year or two.
But the program’s Academic Progress Rate problems will be resolved, he said.
“I have no questions that we’re going to get it fixed,” Huesman said. “I feel strongly about that.”
UT Chattanooga: Huesman’s Salary in Middle of SoCon Pack
For years the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s football coaches have been at or near the bottom of the Southern Conference in both wins and pay. The latter is no longer the case, and it’s up to new coach Russ Huesman to change the former.
A memorandum of understanding — essentially a contract — was approved this week by UT system president John Petersen for Huesman to receive a base salary of $150,000 for six years. That is about $35,000 a year more than UTC paid Rodney Allison last year.
A&T's Lee: We're Selling a Brand-New Era
GREENSBORO – Alonzo Lee’s first two weeks as N.C. A&T’s new head coach have been anything but quiet.
Lee was introduced Jan. 16 and immediately met with recruits and current players while trying to fill out the rest of his coaching staff. Between meeting with recruits and trying to find a house in Greensboro, Lee sat down with the News & Record to talk about myriad issues surrounding Aggie football, next week’s national signing day, A&T’s recruiting budget and how long he thinks it will take to turn around a program that has lost 36 of its last 39 games:
UTC Fans See Hope in Huesman Hiring
Finally, a moment to celebrate. An excuse to brag. A reason to talk about University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football without rubbing your head or looking at the ground or using sarcasm to hide the pain.
All for the first time in 24 years.
The news conference introducing Russ Huesman as the UTC coach is the most inspiring moment for this program since it shared the Southern Conference crown in 1984. Very few have suffered more than UTC fans.
Huesman Has a Lot to Do
Russ Huesman barely had time to celebrate winning a national championship Friday night before turning his attention to interviewing for the job of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head football coach.
Now that the UTC graduate and former Richmond defensive coordinator has been hired as the Mocs’ coach, he said his to-do list is longer than ever. The first order of business, he said, was hiring a coaching staff.
Chattanooga: No App, No Worry
Eckstein still expects good crowd for title game.
Three of the four seeds in the Football Bowl Subdivision playoffs have survived two rounds and are still on the Road to Chattanooga. The team that didn’t make it was 2005-07 national champion Appalachian State.
On one level, the No. 2-seeded Mountaineers’ 33-13 loss to unseeded Richmond last Saturday was bad news for the Dec. 19 championship game at Finley Stadium, in that a repeat of last year’s overflow crowd appears unlikely. However, all of the advance tickets (about 14,000) have been sold, so the game shouldn’t suffer much, if at all, financially.
Audio Slideshow: A Last Look at Eagle Nation 2008
Seniors Raja Andrews and Chris Covington thank Georgia Southern and it’s football crazy fans.
Georgia Southern football players Raja Andrews and Chris Covington enjoyed their ride with Eagle Nation. Andrews finished his career as the Eagles’ all-time leading receiver and Covington was named Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year for 2008.
Day of the (Jacksonville) Dolphins
Football games are meant to be decided over the span of 60 minutes, but in Saturday’s Pioneer League showdown between Jacksonville and Dayton, the Dolphins only needed seven minutes to get the job done.
Jacksonville scored 19 points during that span in the fourth quarter and that was enough for the Dolphins to post a 19-14 victory, earning JU its first football championship before a record crowd of 5,263 at D.B. Milne Field.
“It was great to see so many people here in the city come out and support us to win a championship. That was great,” JU coach Kerwin Bell said after the game. “Our players loved it and even though it was a little ugly at time - it wasn’t the prettiest game on our part - I think the fans saw an exciting game and the way we play.”
Mountaineers Trample Mocs
No surprises here. Just another ugly loss in a football season full of them for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Second-ranked Appalachian State smashed and gashed the Mocs 49-7 on Saturday, giving the three-time defending national champions their second win at Finley Stadium in the past 11 months — one more than the Mocs have in that same span. The game had an announced attendance of 6,057.
“They’re everything as advertised,” Mocs coach Rodney Allison said of the Mountaineers (8-2, 6-0), who can clinch at least a share of their fourth straight Southern Conference championship this week against Elon. “Offensively, I don’t see anything that keeps them from going a long way (in the playoffs).”
UT Chattanooga Head Coach Allison Will Depart after Finishing this Season
Rodney Allison moved the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program forward in his six seasons as head coach, but the wins didn’t come often enough to earn him a new contract, athletic director Rick Hart announced Tuesday.
Allison, whose contract ends after this season, will coach the Mocs’ final four games.
“Our competitive performance — both the body of work over (the past five) seasons in addition to our first eight games this year — combined with what I believe to be some signs of apathy setting in amongst our fan base and the community, were two major reasons for this change,” Hart said during a news conference in the Hall of Fame Room at McKenzie Arena. “Our focus is always on the student-athlete, and I believe this path will prove to be best for them as well.”
Chattanooga's Allison Tells Gault to be More Patient
For the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offense to work, quarterback Jare Gault has to do a better job of playing within the system, Mocs coach Rodney Allison said Monday.
Allison has described Gault as a “gunslinger,” which he meant as a compliment. But he said that too often in last Saturday’s 35-10 loss at Furman, as well as in previous games, Gault tried to make plays on his own rather than showing patience in the pocket and waiting for plays to develop.
West Virginia Scouting Report: Villanova
The Villanova Wildcats have aspirations of winning a national championship at the Football Championship Subdivision level (formerly Division I-AA). The Wildcats enter the season ranked 19th and have a realistic chance to go all the way with an experienced and deep team lead by perhaps the best quarterback in the FCS.
However, their chances of beating No. 8 West Virginia in Morgantown are much slimmer and their coach knows it.
Villanova Coach Andy Talley says, “I think what happens is you get worn down, you get worn out. We’ll play 38-40 players, they’re going to play 65-70 players on a hot day and so, if you look at our game last year against Maryland it was 13-7 at halftime, so we’re in the game, and then they just wear us down and break it open.”
Former NCA&T Offensive Lineman Promoted to Athletic Director
GREENSBORO – There are some subtleties to Wheeler Brown, a friendly sort with the frame of a bear. But Monday, the former Aggie football player spoke like an offensive lineman, not a diplomat.
“My No. 1 goal would be for us to get our swagger back,” said Brown, who was named athletics director at his alma mater on a full-time basis Monday. “There was a time when we were kings. If you wanted a championship, you had to come through Greensboro to get it, and you had to fight like hell to get it. We’re going back to those days. That’s it.”
Thornton’s Time to Step Forth at Chattanooga
Joseph Thornton sometimes calls himself the “Chosen One.” It’s a nickname he gave himself last year. It is, he said, the version of himself that puts on the pads and plays football.
He’s serious about it. Sort of.
“It’s just my little motivational thing,” Thornton said following the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s afternoon practice Tuesday. “It’s kind of stuck on me now. There’s a lot of pressure that comes with it, because I’ve got to play like the ‘Chosen One.’”
NC A&T Aggies Pull Together at First Practice
GREENSBORO – Three months ago, the N.C. A&T Aggies learned there is, in fact, something worse than losing 27 consecutive football games. What could be more disturbing than losing a teammate?
In this case, the question is not rhetorical. As intolerable as Chad Wiley’s death was, they said, relenting in its wake might be worse.
So today, they take the field as a full team for the first time since Wiley collapsed after an offseason conditioning drill and died 18 hours later as a result of what was reported as heat-related illness. And they say there will be no way to go but all-out.
Receiver a Rare Area of Stability for Chattanooga
Amid all the turnover within the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team since the end of last season, the Mocs’ wide receiver corps has been the team’s lone area of stability. It is the position with the greatest depth.
While seven new assistant coaches have joined the program, new starters will take over at nearly every other position and a knee injury sustained by preseason all-conference running back Bryan Fitzgerald could sideline him for a while, the top three receivers from last season — Blue Cooper, Clint Woods and Thomas Hinton — all are back and ready to go.
Chattanooga: Injuries Already a Mocs Concern
Before the first practice of preseason camp began Thursday afternoon, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team was already dealing with injuries.
Running back Bryan Fitzgerald, voted preseason first-team All-Southern Conference by the league’s coaches last week, is out with a right knee injury and starting center Brian Heflin has a bad back, Mocs coach Rodney Allison said — and both players could be out for a while.
Elon Now Faces High Expectations
Standing in the visitor’s locker room at Raymond James Stadium last September, Elon coach Pete Lembo had a decision to make. One that might have changed the future of his program.
Lembo’s Phoenix had just lost their season opener to South Florida, 28-13. It was a game Elon could have won, Lembo believed, against a team that wound up being ranked No. 2 in the country six weeks later.
The decision Lembo faced was one familiar to Football Championship Subdivision coaches whose teams held their own against an upper-level opponent: should he praise his guys for hanging with a superior team or throw a little rage their way for not capitalizing on a chance to pull off a big upset?
Commentary: SoCon's Powers Still High
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Seated at a table in the back right corner of the Pinehurst room — all the conference rooms at the Embassy Suites are named after elite golf courses — Rodney Allison looked around and saw a lot that has changed and a lot that has remained the same.
“The thing that sticks out more than anything is that the major powers are still (at the top of the conference),” the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach said Wednesday during the Southern Conference Football Rouser.
“Appy’s still here, Wofford’s still here, Furman’s still here. There have been a few changes at Georgia Southern, but for the most part your power teams are still here and constant.”
Samford is Gearing Up for its SoCon Debut
Samford University’s campus is still nestled on a quiet hillside spot off Lakeshore Drive in Birmingham. Indeed, it’s still a little patch of collegiate paradise home to 4,400 students.
The big change that has taken place at Samford can’t be seen at Reid Chapel or by walking up the steps toward Davis Library. To find it you have to go to Seibert Stadium and the stylish new Pete Hanna Center.
There you will find coaches, players and athletic administrators preparing for the Bulldogs’ debut in the Southern Conference. That comes on Sept. 26, when its women’s soccer team takes on Elon.
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