Mocs' Wright Signs Five Year Extension With UTC

The Chattanooga Mocs enjoyed immediate success in unprecedented times over the first five years of Coach Rusty Wright’s leadership. That 5-year trek leads to five more as the alum and his institution agreed to extension terms this week.

"We are excited to make this announcement," Vice Chancellor for Athletics Mark Wharton shared. "Rusty is a proven leader. Examining the program's accomplishments on the field, in the classroom and the community, those alone merit this extension.

"However, we believe he epitomizes the values we share as an athletics department and University. What he’s done to build a foundation, a standard moving forward coupled with ever-progressing construction on the Wolford Center gives us great optimism for our future."

His coaching era started among the most turbulent of times. Scrappy Moore Field flooded in 2019, leading to a year without a consistent location for spring drills before COVID cancelled the 2020 plan.

That led to the unusual spring 2021 competition season. The first time the program had a chance to feel normal under Wright was fall of 2021. That changed with the beginning of the construction of the state-of-the-art Wolford Center. Since then, the team has used satellite space with temporary locker rooms and limited meeting capabilities.

Despite the constant change and challenge, Wright found consistency both in results and roster building from that humble 2019 beginning with less than 60 on the spring roster. He’s the only Mocs coach with .500 or better records in each of his first five seasons as well as the first with winning Southern Conference marks in each of those campaigns. The 24-12 (.667) SoCon ledger is the best in program history over the first five years of leadership, eclipsing fellow alum Russ Huesman (23-17) in four fewer games.

Not only does his approach shine in the program annals but against his peers as well. His Mocs are the only SoCon team without a losing record since the opening kick of 2019.

“Rusty is an outstanding leader, and you can see the positive impact he has on our student-athletes in both competition and the classroom," said Chancellor Dr. Steven Angle. “His record over his first five years is the best in school history, and they just set a new high with 13 football student-athletes earning a 4.0 GPA in the fall. We are fortunate to have an alum with his talents in such an important role, and I am excited about the future of our football program.”

This is a commitment from the University to a talented alum making a positive impact right at home. But, it’s also one made right back by that difference maker

"I think first, it's just the vision that Dr. Angle and Mark have for us overall, you know, I'm thankful for that," Wright began. "They want to see us do well and succeed and give us an opportunity to do just that. Commitment now is a bit of a loose term, but I think when you have it on both ends, it means a little more.

"Kelley and I are both excited about it. I think when you can look at someone, and you make the commitment to doing something, that means everybody's invested in it, trying to keep it moving forward in the right way."

Part of that commitment is not just to an extension to keep Wright in Blue & Gold for the long term. It’s also focused on impacting the student-athlete experience. That was started by amazing upgrades made to the Lawson Center, modernizing athletics performance not just in the weight room, but also with nutrition.

The ongoing construction of the Wolford Center has seen the greatly enhanced Sports Medicine space take root heading into spring drills. That includes dedicated doctor offices as well as enhanced space for the student-athlete’s physical AND mental well-being.

The student side of the equation also shines. There’s six on the FCS ADA Academic All-Star team and 27 CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District picks. His players graduate and stay as one of the leading programs in the country with graduate students who played for just one team in their collegiate career.

The athlete portion is highlighted by finalists for Walter Payton (Ailym Ford) and Buch Buchanan (Devonnsha Maxwell, Jay Person) National Player of the Year Awards. Cole Strange became the program’s first NFL Draft first round pick and the first in the SoCon in more than 40 years.

His program boasts nine different All-Americans with 42 selections over the past five campaigns. There are a total of 44 All-SoCon picks including 20 first teamers. Maxwell and Person combined for the last three SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honors with Strange and McClendon Curtis earning three straight Jacobs Blocking Awards.

"I think the biggest thing is, it makes you stick to what you believe in while trying to build a base the right way, which is a hard thing to do in this day and age," Wright added. "We still try to treat kids right and give them the best opportunity to be successful on and off the field. I think that was the biggest thing early on was no matter how crazy it got around me, you know, at the end of the day it was trying to make it as good as we could for these young men to grow as people on and off the field.

"That's what it still comes down to at the end of the day. I'm thankful for them too because, you know, a lot of them stuck around in good times and bad. You need some of that in life to get better and go through things because life throws you curveballs all the time. I think that learning part of it early on and sticking to what we believed in makes a huge difference moving forward."

The extension adds three years to his current pact. It covers the 2024-28 campaigns. Upon completion, he’d become just the fourth Mocs ball coach with eight or more years of service joining the legendary Scrappy Moore (35), Buddy Nix (9) and Huesman (8). That’s a level of consistency rare in this college football era. But from what we’ve seen of his first five years, that’s just what one expects of Rusty Wright.

All-Time Winningest Coaches (Overall Wins)

1) Scrappy Moore (35 seasons): 170

2) Russ Huesman (8): 59

3) Joe Morrison (7): 44

tie) Buddy Nix (9): 44

5) Rusty Wright (5): 30

All-Time Winningest Coaches (SoCon Wins)

1) Russ Huesman (62 games): 42

2) Buddy Nix (60): 29

3) Rusty Wright (36): 24

4) Bill Oliver (26): 18

5) Buddy Green (48): 17