UTC's season opener likely to set tone

Finley Stadium executive director Merrill Eckstein has an attendance number in mind. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director Rick Hart isn't about to guess.

Yet the two agree that Sept. 3, when the Russ Huesman and B.J. Coleman eras begin for Mocs football, could be something special for the school and the community. Eckstein believes the Thursday opener against Division II Glenville State may be the most meaningful UTC game in terms of fan support and trust in his nearly two decades in Chattanooga, and he's optimistic for a crowd of 10,000.

"To me, all the stars are aligning right," Eckstein said. "We've got Russ Huesman's first year, and there is definitely an excitement about Huesman coming in as head coach. B.J. Coleman announces that he's coming back here, and that has created a great deal of excitement.

"I love the Thursday night idea. If it was up to me, UTC would play more on Thursday nights, but I know they're burdened by the conference saying no to that as far as league games."

The Mocs have not played before a Finley Stadium crowd in excess of 10,000 since Sept. 23, 2000, when 15,072 watched them lose 31-10 to reigning national champion Georgia Southern. They closed out a 1-11 debacle last season with a 30-7 loss to Samford before an announced Finley crowd of 4,068.

Even if 8,000 attend the opener, UTC sports information director Jay Blackman said that would rank among the top 15 Mocs crowds since the 20,668-seat facility opened in October 1997. The biggest Sept. 3 game on television is South Carolina at North Carolina State on ESPN.

"If the number of people who say they're coming wind up coming, then I would feel really good," Hart said. "It's important, and we hope the community will come out and support the new staff and our current student-athletes and kind of get reinvigorated if we can carry this buzz through Sept. 3. Certainly our goal is to have a good crowd to show our team and to show our community that UTC football is important and that they feel good about what is happening.

"That said, we have a long way to go. We haven't solved all the various challenges we've had previously. It's going to take us some time to get the program we want to have, and we know that."

Hart isn't projecting a crowd size because he believes Chattanooga is a walk-up community and the weather could dictate a lot. He added that some fans may take a wait-and-see approach until noticeable improvement is shown and that others may not make it a priority.

The Mocs' biggest obstacle in attaining a strong initial crowd could be their recent past. They have opened at home on Thursday nights twice this decade, losing to Samford in 2003 and to Division II Carson-Newman in 2007.

Glenville State finished among the Top 25 Division II teams last year.

"The problem with UTC football in past years was that the first game drew a good crowd but the team played poorly," Eckstein said. "Then the next game would have a decent crowd but they would get clobbered, and then the next game, oops, and down and down it goes. By the end of the season, they would be looking at 1,500 actual bodies in the stands.

"They need to be competitive and play solid football. People get tired of watching teams make the same mistakes over and over again."