UTC building a list for wrestling coach

Athletic director Rick Hart has moved past most of the paperwork and should have a list of applicants for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling program by next week.

"We have been able to enact many of the logistical steps and required types of postings and advertisements so we will be adhering to institutional guidelines to get a qualified pool of applicants," Hart said Monday.

He is seeking a successor to Chris Bono, who announced earlier this month that he was returning to Iowa State to be assistant head coach. He will remain on the UTC staff until the end of June and has been preparing for camps and firming next season's schedule.

"I've been busy," Bono said. "I want to leave in the proper fashion."

The schedule won't be formalized until the new coach has a chance to look it over.

Meanwhile, Hart has formed an advisory committee and has had one meeting with the group, which includes a couple of former Mocs wrestlers and a current Moc.

"We presented the committee with a profile, and many of the attributes and qualities we sought were echoed by numerous members of the committee," Hart said.

He added that most appeared to agree on where UTC should look and the process that follows.

The school's human resources office will continue to take applications until Friday, and Hart hopes to have a viable list when the committee meets next week.

"We have probably had a couple of dozen inquiries," he said, noting that those inquiries included e-mails, letters, text messages, phone calls and formal applications.

Hart hopes to have a coach in place or at least close to being hired before Bono departs.

"We should have most or all of the applications and will be able to move forward," Hart said. "It might take another 10 days to get everybody scheduled (for interviews), but we're on pace. From the time Chris departs and we have a new coach named and in place should be minimal. Looking at where we are today and how the process has gone thus far, I think that is a realistic goal."

Hart said the applications have been in line with what he expected.

"We have had a lot of interest and a lot from capable and qualified individuals," he said. "I felt going in that we had a real opportunity to attract some of the top coaches in the country. People recognized that we have a very successful and highly competitive program along with the potential to improve on what already exists.

"We have the geographic location, the community, the tradition -- all the things we thought separated us from some of the other programs have positioned us well in the marketplace."