The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga announced its final four candidates for the vacant athletic director position on Friday.
They are Jim Booz, the executive associate athletic director at Georgia; Gerald Harrison, Duke's senior associate athletic director for internal affairs; Jeff O'Malley, Marshall's associate athletic director and chief of staff; and Mark Wharton, Penn State's associate athletic director for athletic development.
The candidates will be on campus next week, with interviews expected to take place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A decision is expected by the end of the month.
Booz has familiarity with the state of Tennessee, having earned his undergraduate degree at UT-Martin and his master's at Middle Tennessee State. He has been involved in numerous institutional and national programs and committees, including the UVA Presidential Leadership Program, UVA Student Information Core Advisory Committee, National Association of Athletic Academic Advisors Strategic Planning Committee, NCAA Peer Review Team member and Division 1-A Athletics Directors Institute participant.
Harrison graduated from Tennessee in 2001 and spent six years on the Volunteers' football staff, ultimately following former Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe to Duke when the latter took the head coaching job in 2007. He's currently the administrator overseeing the football and fencing programs plus the strength and conditioning, athletic training and equipment groups. He also manages the athletic department's human resources operation.
O'Malley is in his 15th year in his current position. He oversees many facets of the Marshall athletics program, including men's basketball, men's soccer, men's golf and baseball, as well as the department's academics and compliance offices. He recently assisted athletic director Mike Hamrick in the planning and launch of the department's capital campaign, which is a $30 million initiative that will be used to construct an indoor practice facility, a soccer complex, a hall of fame and an academic support/sports medicine translational research center. O'Malley was also recently named to the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee, with his term beginning in September of 2013.
Wharton was named an associate director of athletics for the Nittany Lion Club in March 2015 after serving nearly two years as assistant athletic director. Wharton supervises the booster group that has more than 22,000 members who provide financial support to Penn State athletics and its more than 800 student-athletes.
"I want to thank the members of the search committee for their hard work and commitment. We have an excellent pool of candidates, which speaks highly for the quality and reputation of our campus and our athletics program," UTC chancellor Steven Angle said in a release.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.