Russ Huesman is proud of the fact that his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team will have a winning season this fall, Huesman's first as the coach of his alma mater.
After the Mocs went 1-11 last season, to be 6-4 after Saturday's 31-28 come-from-behind win over The Citadel is "pretty dadgum good," he said. The victory guaranteed UTC -- which closes out its season at No. 2 Alabama (10-0) this week -- its first winning season since 2005 and just the program's second since 1997.
Huesman was happy to see his players so excited following Saturday's win in which UTC rallied from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit, but he doesn't want anyone to think that six-win seasons will be anything to brag about in the future.
"We win a game to get to six, which is great, but it was almost like we won the Southern Conference championship," Huesman said Sunday. "And it's a good feeling, but I hate to say it, but that's the minimum. It has to be."
With its 4-4 record in the SoCon -- UTC's first .500 record in league play since 1998 -- the Mocs can do no worse than a tie for fourth place in the league. That's a big jump from last season when UTC went winless in the SoCon.
Huesman said this season has been a great learning experience for his team because of the way the games have gone, both the wins and the losses.
In its four SoCon wins, the Mocs dominated Wofford, had to hold on against Samford and had to rally to beat Western Carolina and The Citadel.
"I hope our young guys are soaking it in and the guys that are coming back next year are soaking all this in," he said, "because we've had a lot of things happen during the course of the year.
"If you just get your brains beat in every week there's not one lesson you can learn. And I think this year's been good because we've had the chance to take some things from it."
Huesman never won less than seven games during his UTC career (1978-81) and he will hold his teams to the same high standard.
"(Going 6-4) should be a rebuilding year," he said, acknowledging that 2009 could certainly be described as such.
The Mocs haven't won more than six games in a season since going 7-4 in 1997.
For the seniors, such as Blue Cooper who had 14 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner, to be a part of the rebuilding process and to go out with a winning season is about all they could have hoped for this fall.
"You couldn't have scripted it much better," Cooper said.
The Mocs are off today and will begin preparing for the Crimson Tide on Tuesday.
John Frierson is in his fifth year at the Times Free Press and fifth year covering University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics. The bulk of his time is spent covering Mocs football, but he also writes about women’s basketball and the big-picture issues and news involving the athletic department. A native of Athens, Ga., John grew up a few hundred yards from the University of Georgia campus. Instead of becoming a Bulldog he attended Ole ...
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