Russ Huesman oversaw Saturday's football practice with a sense of school pride. Between drills, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach was walking around, asking different people about the score of the women's basketball team's game against Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which was being played in Knoxville at the same time of the football practice.
After finding out Jim Foster's Mocs were down 25-21 at halftime, he asked, "Are we just not shooting it well?"
Upon hearing the UTC women had fallen by a 51-40 final, he said, "Man, I hate that."
"I'm proud of everybody in this athletic department," the seventh-year coach and UTC alumnus said after wrapping up Saturday's practice. "I want everybody to win and win big. I'm disappointed because we're practicing and I can't go up there and be a part of it.
"I think every coach in our athletic department is like that. They all want to have success; the more success every sport has, the better it is for our sport. When basketball's good, it helps football, and I hope it's vice versa."
Mocs head coach Russ Huesman runs and instructs Oscar Prado on defense as spring practice begins in this March 20, 2015, file photo.Huesman said that in 2012 when UTC golfer Steven Fox was competing in the U.S. Amateur, the football coach demanded updates from everybody around, as his team was scrimmaging that day and he couldn't watch.
Fox went on to win the event at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado.
"It's fun when there's success, because of the notoriety it gives us," Huesman said.
The Mocs went through their second session of spring practice without pads. They'll add pads Monday, although there won't be any tackling. Senior defensive end Toyvian Brand, for one, is happy that there finally will be the potential of some contact.
"It's bittersweet," he said. "You give all this effort -- it's football, we all know what we signed up for -- and you want to hit people. When you're not able to hit, it takes away from the game, but without pads it makes it more mental, which helps in preparing us.
"But not being able to hit takes away a little bit, but it's OK because we're all getting better."
The first two practices have focused largely on being in the right place. Coaches made sure players were in the right spots to make the plays, even though they couldn't actually make them. Huesman said that while it's tough to evaluate players without pads -- especially defenders who are unable to tackle -- it's good for the coaching staff to see who's doing things the way the staff wants them done.
"You try to keep them spread out, so offensively and defensively you're limited in what you do," he said. "On Monday, we still won't tackle, but you'll feel better about how guys come off the ball and take on blocks."
Monday's practice will be the third of 15 NCAA allotted spring sessions. The Mocs will have their first scrimmage next Saturday, with the spring game set for April 18 at 2 p.m. at Finley Stadium.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.