Chattanooga hopes new coach will remedy problems

By Steve Behr
 

New Chattanooga head football coach Russ Huesman has his work cut out for him in the upcoming year.

He takes over a Chattanooga program that is in a shambles. Never mind the fact that the Mocs have not made the playoffs since the 1980s, nor the fact that they have been mostly irrelevant in the Southern Conference football landscape, expect for an occasional upset of a top team.

The Mocs were put on probation by the NCAA for a year after their APR score, which measures a program's graduation rates, was too low. Chattanooga’s football team and Centenary’s men’s basketball team were both banned from a postseason appearance this season.

So even if Huesman could completely turn around the fortunes of Chattanooga football and win the Southern Conference championship, the Mocs would not be allowed to play in the FCS playoffs in 2009.

“Obviously, everybody's goal is to win a championship and go to the FCS playoffs,” Huesmann said. “We won't be able to do that this year. We still want to win football games. We play 11 games and we’ll try to win 11 games.”

The problem with winning 11 games is that Chattanooga has not come remotely close to that goal in recent years. The Mocs have had just one winning season — 2005 when they went 6-5 — since 1997 when they went 7-4.

The Mocs are coming off a dismal 1-11 season that saw them get hammered 56-7 by Wofford, 49-7 by Appalachian State, 42-7 by Elon and 27-7 by a Western Carolina team that finished 3-9, 1-7 in the SoCon.
That doesn’t include the 57-2 pasting by Big 12 power Oklahoma in the Mocs’ season opener. Chattanooga’s lone victory was 47-6 over NAIA Cumberland (Tenn.).

Chattanooga opens the Huesman era with a home game against Glenville State, but closes out the season at Alabama.

It’s a tall task for Huesman, who is known to Appalachian State faithful as the defensive coordinator of a Richmond team that held the Mountaineers to just 49 yards rushing, forced five Armanti Edwards interceptions, seven overall turnovers and a 33-13 Spiders win over Appalachian.

Richmond went on to win the FCS national championship with a dominating defense that Mocs fans hope he will instill in Chattanooga.

“I’ve been around at the FCS level and I know how to compete for the playoffs,” Huesman said. “Hopefully, what I can bring to this place is the passion that I have for my university. I saw Mike London go to Richmond and I saw Bobby (Lamb) go to Furman and they did the same. Hopefully I’ll bring a passion to Chattanooga because it’s my alma mater and I want us to do well.”

“Coach brings a lot of energy,” linebacker Joesph Thornton said. “That’s how he is. He seems like a great coach. His mentality to the game is unbelievable. A lot of people are going to support the Mocs and be on board again.”

Huesman played at Chattanooga for Bill Oliver from 1980-83 as a defensive back. The Mocs were 31-11-2 during his four years at Chattanooga and were SoCon co-champions during his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Huesman has also coached at William and Mary (1984-84) and at Memphis (1998-03) before landing at Richmond in 2004. It is his task to bring Chattanooga, a team that has not finished in the top three of the Southern Conference standings since 1990, back to respectability.

“It can be a great season,” Huesman said. “We have to compete hard and improve this year.”