Randy Smith: A Great Weekend To Be A UTC Moc

  • Monday, November 16, 2015
  • Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Randy Smith

If you are a UTC sports fan, this past weekend was one of the best in recent memory. The football Mocs scored a win over The Citadel; a win that clinched a third straight Southern Conference Championship. The Lady Mocs basketball team, ranked 25th in the country in the  pre-season polls won a pair of games this weekend, beating McNeese State in their season opener and scoring  a win over Butler on Sunday. And in the most surprising event of the weekend, the UTC basketball Mocs scored an overtime win at Georgia in their season opener 92-90 on Friday night. When you add the fact the UTC Volleyball team won the SoCon Title this fall, it's been especially good.
 
It was just a few years ago the only consistently good programs at UTC were women's basketball, women's  softball., and wrestling. The men's hoops team might win 16-17 games every so often, while the football team was mired in the midst of several losing seasons in a row. Attendance was terrible at every event, and things were basically not looking much better foe the future of UTC Athletics. Then the Mocs hired Russ Heusman as the new head football coach.   

Huesman won almost immediately, at least posting more wins than we had seen in a while. It took him five seasons however to reach the top of the SoCon football mountain, but since winning the first title since 1984 in 2013, Coach Huesman decided he liked the view from the top, and just scooted over; leaving room for another team or two to challenge for that title every so  often.

I heard a high school administrator once say, " Our football program sets the pace for our entire school year. When they're good, we have a great school year. When they're not good, we struggle in a lot of areas."

It's almost like it was when Coach Joe Morrison was here coaching football while Ron Shumate coached the Mocs basketball team. The football team won three straight SoCon Titles from 19776-1979, while the hoops team won the NCAA  D-II National Championship in 1977. Times were great back then. It was the best time to be a UTC fan. Oh, the Mocs have won their share of titles in many sports since then but when you add football to the mix, it's really special.

There is one common denominator that links the two eras of UTC athletics; Russ Huesman was a player on a couple of those football championship squads, and he has coached the Mocs to three straight championships in the last three years. I would imagine Coach Huesman really enjoys surrounding himself with winners. I really think we all do. 

So congratulations to the Mocs and the Lady Mocs for their fall success. Here's hoping things continue to go well for Coach Huesman, Coach Matt McCall, and Coach Jim Foster. Things around UTC are in the best shape they've been in for a long while. I see no reason to think it's going to change anytime soon, so let's all enjoy it!    

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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.

His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.

He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.

In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.

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