University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director David Blackburn hired Matt McCall, a former Florida assistant, as the Mocs' next basketball coach.
McCall, who was introduced Monday at UTC, has a nice list of supporters who have a litany of nice things to say about the 33-year-old who worked himself up from basketball manager to now a college head coach.
That's well and good, and in truth, working on Billy Donovan's staff certainly is a strong statement and a place where a guy can't help but learn a ton about the game. There's no debating his credentials are top-notch.
There's a lot to like about this hire. But the main reason UTC fans should be comfortable with the newest coach in Blue and Gold is because Blackburn has earned the benefit of the doubt in these matters. He has yet to make even a mediocre hire to this point, never mind a bad one. He is 3-for-3 with three extra-base hits, so we have trust in that.
Wes Long would have been an easy choice -- and a good one. He is popular within the locker room and the community. He certainly would have continued the momentum with a Mocs team that is poised for big things next.
Long was due and given a great deal of credit in the turnaround orchestrated by Will Wade. Long was so highly valued by Wade that the previous UTC coach held a spot -- and likely a nice raise -- for his former assistant.
Matt McCall is greeted by Scrappy while mingling after being announced as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's new head men's basketball coach while at the UTC University Center on Monday, April 14, 2015.All of that is part of Long's nice case for consideration, and no one would have batted an eye if Blackburn had made the easy call. But easy and right are not always the same thing, and Blackburn obviously made the McCall call.
The final reason for that decision could be debated and deciphered, but the guy making the decision has proven more than capable of getting it right.
Now McCall faces the challenge of winning over an experienced roster that was vested and connected to the previous regime -- another reason why hiring Long would have been easy -- as soon as possible.
This collection of talent -- both on campus and in the recruiting cycle -- could mean special things for a UTC program that stands at the cusp of being a SoCon power.
Was the two-year tenure of Will Wade a blip or a renaissance? That question will be answered by McCall in the next winter or two.
Get the players on board quickly, and the NCAA tournament is well within this bunch's grasp. A tumultuous start could lead to players looking around in this too-quick-to-transfer culture, and who knows what the immediate or long-term future could hold.
That's McCall's first test, and it could be the most crucial. By all measures and accounts, he seems up to almost every challenge and has a pedigree to turn a program that's better into something better than that.
But, like with most hires in today's sports landscape, the call is to grade this move or that hire in the moment.
We won't know whether McCall is a home-run hire or a swing-and-miss or whatever other baseball term applies until later. Maybe much later.
But UTC fans should be comfortable with McCall because Blackburn is comfortable with him.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com. His "Right to the Point" column appears on A2 on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and his sports columns run Tuesday and Friday.
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