New University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive coordinator Brandon Staley is the 2016 FootballScoop Division III coordinator of the year, the online publication announced Thursday. Prior winners voted on the award. Staley has accompanied UTC head coach Tom Arth from John Carroll University, which went 12-2 and reached the national semifinals. JCU was third in Division III in total defense, fourth in scoring defense, sixth in pass-efficiency defense and 13th in rushing defense and held 12 opponents to 17 or fewer points and five under 10 points. "I am very proud of Brandon and honored to work with him," Arth said in a UTC release. "His expertise, hard work and commitment to his players is rare."
- Former Soddy-Daisy High School standout Erik Losey has resigned as offensive line coach at East Tennessee State to take the same position at Football Bowl Subdivision member Southern Mississippi, according to the Johnson City Press. ETSU announced his departure from the Southern Conference school, where he played before the program was discontinued after the 2003 season. He became an all-conference and All-America lineman at Western Kentucky. "Erik did a great job for ETSU, especially being a former player and coming back when we restarted the program," Buccaneers head coach Carl Torbush said in the school's release. "This is obviously a step up the ladder from an FCS program to the FBS level. In my opinion, it's a great opportunity for Erik in his professional career. We appreciate everything he did to develop this program and we wish him nothing but the best in the future." Losey's brother, Chuck, was a Vanderbilt defensive end and was on the Commodores staff before following head coach James Franklin to Penn State as assistant director of performance enhancement.
- Another former Soddy-Daisy football player, Kevin Day, has been hired as offensive line coach at Carson-Newman, where he was the South Atlantic Conference's Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner, a consensus NCAA Division II All-American and the division's top center nationally in 2012. Day replaces Mike Turner, who was the position coach while serving as offensive coordinator before succeeding the retired Ken Sparks as head coach after this past season. "He's a tremendous addition to our staff because of the man that he is and the example that he set while he was here as a player," Turner said in Thursday's CNU release. "He was a leader early in his career, and that speaks well to his desire and the man that God has grown him up to be." Day has been on the Cleveland High School staff the last two years after helping Knoxville West to a state title and a state runner-up finish. "I was fortunate to have a great career because of Coach Turner, because of Coach Sparks and because of the guys who played alongside me," Day said. "That being said, I know what can be accomplished with limited athletic ability and limited size." He was 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds as a CNU senior.
Basketball
- With 17 and 13 points and eight and 10 rebounds from Amber Levi and Erisha Talley, the Bryan College women's basketball team upset nationally 23rd-ranked Milligan 51-50 in an Appalachian Athletic Conference doubleheader Thursday in Dayton. Megan Billingsby added nine rebounds and Levi made four of six 3-point tries for the Lady Lions (7-8, 5-4), who trailed 50-45 before a 3 by Tristan McClellan, a free throw by Levi and the tying and go-ahead foul shots by Tonesha Allison. Milligan beat the Bryan men 80-65 despite 20 points, nine rebounds and four steals by Brice Cusick. Oteriah Lee added 15 points and four assists and Wray Fuller had 11 points and four steals for the Lions.
- Freshman Rebecca Cheeks from Sonoraville High School had 25 points, eight rebounds and three steals as Reinhardt's women took advantage of Milligan's loss to take sole possession of first place in the AAC with a 79-63 win at Union College. Also among the leaders for the Lady Eagles (16-1, 8-1), Erika Woodfin from Dade County hit four 3s and scored 14 points and Payton Smith from Sonoraville had eight points and four steals.
- The Tennessee Wesleyan teams both won AAC games at Allen on Thursday, 74-69 in the women's game and 88-78 for the second-place Bulldogs. They are 9-4 overall, 6-2 in the league; the Lady Bulldogs are 8-7, 6-3.
- Dalton State got 37 points and 19 rebounds from Carnilious Simmons in its 92-69 home Southern States win over Martin Methodist, with Mike Harden adding 16 points and seven rebounds and Reed Dungan scoring 11 points. Sayvon Wilson had 10 rebounds with nine points and Isaiah Box had eight assists with nine points for the Roadrunners (11-1, 3-1).