The Chattanooga Athletics Department welcomed in another new crop of summer hires as Chris James (Athletics Performance), Leland Malloy (Student-Athlete Academic Enhancement), Mollie Best (Compliance) and Kelly Vuz (Administrative Support) are all set to join the Mocs family.
James will hold the title of Assistant Director of Athletics Performance while Best slots into an Assistant Director of Compliance role. Malloy will serve as an Academic Advisor/Tutor Coordinator for the Student-Athlete Academic Enhancement Center and Vuz will have the role of Administrative Assistant.
Mollie Best – Assistant Director – Compliance
Best arrived in the Scenic City in June and will take on Assistant Director duties within UTC’s Compliance office.
The Rydal, Georgia, native will help assist with all elements of NCAA Division I compliance practices within Chattanooga Athletics.
Prior to joining the UTC staff, Best worked at Auburn University Montgomery from 2022-24 serving first as a Compliance Intern before being promoted to the role of Compliance & Event Operations Assistant. While at AUM, Best helped spearhead the department’s community service and outreach programs alongside conducting student worker hirings and serving as game day administrator for tennis.
Best is a 2023 graduate of Auburn University Montgomery, having received her degree in Kinesiology.
Chris James – Assistant Director – Athletics Performance
Former Chattanooga football quarterback-turned-tight end Chris James is set to serve as the new Assistant Director of Athletics Performance, working primarily with the university’s women’s basketball, volleyball, softball and football programs.
After a seven-year playing career that stretched one season at Valdosta State (2015), two years at Hutchinson Community College (2016-17) and finally four seasons with the Mocs (2018-21), James shifted his sights to serving as a Performance Coach for APEC in 2022-23 before becoming the Director of Sports Performance at Velocity Athlete Development prior to his return to the Scenic City.
A native of Ellijay, Georgia, James ultimately finished as a double major at Chattanooga, earning a degree in Sports Management in 2020 followed by an Exercise Science degree in 2021.
Leland Malloy – Academic Advisor/Tutor Coordinator – Student-Athlete Academic Enhancement
Malloy is set to join the Student-Athlete Academic Enhancement Center’s staff as an Academic Advisor and Tutor Coordinator, with his work mainly involving men’s & women’s cross country/track & field, men’s & women’s tennis as well as women’s golf.
Malloy comes to Chattanooga from Michigan, where he most recently served as an Academic Success Program Intern for the Wolverines from 2023-24. Malloy also has experience working as an Assistant Academic Counselor at UMass during 2021-22.
Malloy graduated from Lycoming College in 2021 with his degree in Psychology before going on to earn his Master’s in Education from Springfield College in 2023. The Bethlehem, Connecticut, native was a soccer student-athlete for both institutions during his undergraduate and graduate career.
Kelly Vuz – Administrative Assistant – Administrative Support
Vuz rounds out the newest set of UTC hires as she is set to take on the role of Administrative Assistant for a variety of Chattanooga programs that include the soccer, men’s & women’s tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball teams as well as academics, strategic communications and athletics performance.
The most recent stop on Vuz’s resume prior to joining the Mocs came in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Vuz served in the role of Ticket Sales Associate for the University of Michigan from 2023-24. Before this came a two-year stint working as an Athletics Office Assistant at Castleton University.
Vuz graduated from Lycoming College in 2021 with her Bachelor of Business Administration before going on to earn her Master’s in Athletic Leadership from Castleton University in 2023. At both institutions Vuz was a women’s basketball student-athlete.