As Mark Wharton first stepped up to the podium Wednesday afternoon at the University Center, moments after being introduced as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's new athletic director, he briefly choked up while talking about his wife Angela and daughter Taylor, both in attendance.
But as he settled into his nearly 14-minute talk with administration, coaches, fans and media, he bragged about entering his new position with two undefeated head coaches - Tom Arth (football) and Lamont Paris (men's basketball), both of them entering their first seasons with the Mocs.
"Chancellor (Steven) Angle said I can stay as long as I want as long as they stay undefeated," Wharton joked.
With Arth and Paris considered strong hires by UTC, Wharton has been put in a position to succeed from a coaching standpoint by his predecessor, David Blackburn, who resigned in June. It will be the new athletic director's job, in addition to his other responsibilities, to raise funds for a department that could certainly use some help in that regard.
He has experience in a large-budget market, having most recently worked as an associate athletic director at Penn State, but he also has experience at smaller-budget universities such as UNC-Asheville and James Madison.
He wants to be a part of a successful product on the playing surface, too, though.
"We will win here," he said. "It's not a goal, it's my expectation, and it'll be all your expectation."
In the eyes of the search committee tasked with finding Blackburn's replacement, Wharton stood head and shoulders above other candidates throughout the process. For them, he was the easy choice not long after the committee was done doing interviews.
He said Wednesday he plans to start work "very soon," still needing to find a school for his daughter and a place to live in the Chattanooga area. It's very likely he'll be at work by early September.
Coaches who spoke to the Times Free Press on Wednesday gave good impressions of their new AD. Arth and Paris had opportunities to meet with prospective candidates last week when they were on campus, and they believed Wharton was the right choice for the job.
"I've got a great feel about him," Arth said. "I think he's an outstanding person and someone who will represent the school and the athletic department. He's somebody we can look to as a great example and a great leader, and he brings great experience.
"I'm excited for the opportunity to work with him, and I look forward to learning from him and working with him."
Paris said during the sit-down meeting with coaches, he was impressed by how Wharton had done a fair amount of research on the university and was prepared with answers to questions he "couldn't have prepared for."
"I thought his presence was really good, and he was passionate about the opportunity to be the athletic director at Chattanooga," Paris said. "He wasn't passionate about being the athletic director somewhere; he did appear to be passionate about being the athletic director at Chattanooga."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.