If David Blackburn had plans for some time off this week, those ideas are gone for now.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director now is gathering information for a search for a new men's basketball coach, after Matt McCall left Wednesday to head the Massachusetts program.
It's the school's second somewhat surprising coaching departure in the past three and a half months, after eight-year football coach Russ Huesman returned to the Richmond program where he was a defensive coordinator before coming to UTC.
Blackburn replaced Huesman with former John Carroll head coach Tom Arth, a former NFL quarterback who has earned rave reviews since his hiring on Dec. 20. Now the AD is looking for a coach to take over what is expected to be a youthful basketball roster that returns only 23 percent of its scoring from this past season.
Only one player on last season's active roster will be a senior next season. That is reserve forward Trayvond Massenburg, a late junior college addition who didn't join the program until August.
Forward Chuck Ester, regarded by the coaching staff as the team's best player last preseason, tore his ACL in a scrimmage against Auburn and missed the season. It's unclear if he'll return this season, but he was one of the players present when the expected returners met Wednesday evening with McCall via Skype.
Ester was one of six expected seniors on the roster last season. Casey Jones was the lone holdover from the nine-year John Shulman era, one that ended with a 145-146 record and losing seasons in three of his final four years, the other being a 16-16 campaign in 2010-11.
Before moving on from Shulman, UTC had seen ticket sales and attendance dwindle. Blackburn brought in then 30-year-old Will Wade, who after an 18-15 record in his first season started the flipping of the roster. He brought in six players who played roles in the program's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2009.
That appearance came in 2016, a season after Wade left to take the vacant Virginia Commonwealth job. He was succeeded by McCall, whose first team won 29 games, including on the road at Georgia, Illinois and Dayton.
The four-year run of Wade and McCall produced 88 wins, third-most in the state of Tennessee behind Middle Tennessee State (97) and Belmont (91). Wade recently left VCU to take over at LSU, while McCall now attempts to revitalize a Minutemen program with two NCAA tournament appearances in the last 20 seasons since John Calipari left to take the New Jersey Nets job - fresh off five NCAA tournaments in eight years, including a Final Four appearance in his final season.
Wednesday marked the end of an era, a four-year run that has resparked UTC basketball. It's Blackburn's job to maintain that.
"I think that Chattanooga has had great history in the past," he said Wednesday. "They had some years where they struggled, but I think it's a much more coveted job. I think people feel like they can be more successful because they're identifying the success we've had back to when it was successful 10, 15 years ago.
"The Roundhouse is a nationally known name. What went on in the past is still remembered, so when you hear that UTC is kind of, sort of back, it becomes a sexy place. It's a place that now people look at us and wonder, 'Wow, what's going on there?' I think that's important because the past has helped create that. Our coaches and players, campus administration and now the fans and community are starting to believe we can replicate this.
"So now it's better than it was, and that's thankfully, mostly due to the supporters, Will, Matt and the players."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.