With his first spring practices as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach complete, Tom Arth looked for what to do next.
A moving truck was headed to his previous home in Cleveland, Ohio, to pack up the rest of his belongings - as well as his wife and three children - to make the final move to Chattanooga on Wednesday. His two oldest kids, Tommy and Caroline, were at Tuesday's 14th and final practice.
Their father has had a lot on his plate since being introduced as the Mocs' new coach Dec. 20.
Arth hired a staff, then had to quickly move when his first defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley, took a position as outside linebackers coach with the Chicago Bears. The former John Carroll University coach has evaluated talent, implemented his style into the program and signed a talented class of 21 recruits that was put together in a month. Then he put the Mocs through a month's worth of difficult practices, setting up the culture he prefers for not just next season but beyond.
The team has bought in, with numerous players voicing their approval - on social media and in interviews - of the newer, younger staff.
As for Arth, maybe there is some golf on the horizon. He admitted he would like to get out and play some if the opportunity presented itself.
Maybe the Honors Course in Ooltewah?
"My game's not ready for the Honors," Arth admitted after practice, "but I'd love to get out there. I could go and set the bar high, I guess. I've been hearing about it for a long time, and I'm excited to get out there.
"I've got to get out to the range, first."
And maybe there's little to no rest at all. On Tuesday, Arth said coaches would start working on a game plan for the Aug. 26 season opener against Jacksonville State "next week."
Preseason camp is expected to start in late July, with a couple of weeks of solid all-purpose work leading into specific preparation for the opener, which will be televised nationally by ESPN.
Signing day benefit?
Perhaps no level of college football is affected by recruiting as much as the Football Championship Subdivision's best programs.
Players who have made commitments - which are not binding - to such a team often are enticed by a Football Bowl Subdivision program and the prospect of playing in a bowl game on national television, so they bolt the FCS for what they consider to be greener pastures.
That could change after a recent NCAA Division I Council vote cleared the way for a December signing period. (It still must be approved by the Conference Commissioners Association, which administers the national letter of intent program, but that is expected to happen when the CAA meets in June). Recruits who have committed to an FCS program but don't want to wait for a potential offer from an FBS team (or a better FCS team) would have the option to sign in the initial period.
Over the years, UTC has been among the programs that have lost recruits when they chose to sign with an FBS team.
This past winter, the Mocs lost Hardin Valley Academy linebacker Tim Frizzell, who decommitted the day before signing day in February and signed with Appalachian State despite having never met the coaching staff or even toured the campus.
Russ Huesman, Arth's predecessor, regularly had the same problem. In 2016, Morristown West's DeAndre Delaney was committed to the Mocs, but now he's a redshirt freshman safety at Wake Forest. UTC offensive lineman Cole Strange redshirted as a UTC freshman this past season, but during his recruiting process he was a longtime commitment to the Mocs before receiving a late offer from Air Force. He even signed with the Falcons before having a late change of heart that led him back to the Mocs.
Could the new rule help UTC?
"I think it'll be interesting," Arth said. "I think it'll benefit us in some instances and hurt us in others. One thing is, it should have it cleared up by the first period, which I think can help us, but I think a lot of FBS schools, their process will be done sooner.
"I don't think situations like Tim Frizzell are going to happen, which will be good. You'll have less surprises in a negative way, and hopefully some more people that become available earlier on, we've got a better chance of recruiting."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.