Randy Smith
As someone who has followed UTC football since 1975, things have really changed very little. That may seem like a ridiculous statement since the Mocs have won numerous Southern Conference titles, made the FCS playoffs on more than one occasion and moved into a beautiful new stadium 22 years ago. What hasn't changed is the Mocs search for fans to attend games at Finley Stadium.
It's always been that way. Even when the Mocs were winning big under Russ Huesman from 2011 until he left for Richmond in 2016, UTC administration has been scratching its collective head trying to figure out how to consistently put butts in the seats. I've offered this solution before, but here it is again. Get out of the Southern Conference. While the league is still highly respected among FCS conferences, football fans in Chattanooga are not going to show up in droves to watch the Mocs play The Citadel, VMI or Western Carolina.
Chattanooga has always been in the middle of the Southeastern Conference, with Tennessee leading the way followed closely by Alabama, Georgia and Auburn as far as fan allegiance goes. That is not going to change. What needs to change is UTC's conference affiliation. Don't get me wrong, FCS football is still a very competitive brand of college football but very few teams on the FCS level draw big crowds. In fact, overall attendance at FCS games was down more than four percent in 2018. The average size of a crowd was 7,853 fans per game, which is about what UTC draws at Finley Stadium, though some crowds seem much smaller.
So, what can be done? UTC must do what it needs to do to become a FBS member school, join a conference like the Sunbelt or Conference USA and play home games with schools such as Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. The natural rivalry with MTSU would be a much bigger draw to college football fans than an annual match up with East Tennessee State.
Let's face it. FBS schools like Middle Tennessee will never win a national championship. However, the Blue Raiders have gone to some impressive bowl games in the last few years which would also be an option for Chattanooga if the Mocs step up to the FBS level. I know this has been discussed by the powers that be at UTC. But until that happens, the crowds to see the Mocs face Furman and Wofford will be the same as its been for several years.
Rusty Wright is back at UTC as the Mocs' new head coach and things certainly look promising. Chattanooga will put a quality team on the field this fall against a tough FCS schedule. But the crowds will not be much better at all. That's the way it's been for a long time and that's the way it will stay until that big move up to FBS is made.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com