When the occasion arises for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball and football coaches to play pickup basketball – usually a time or two a week – former Mocs quarterback Dominic Caldwell, now a quality control assistant for the football program, makes it a point to remind the basketball coaches that he’s a better player than his brother A.J., a redshirt junior on their current team.
“All the coaches are like, ‘You should teach him that,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ve been trying for 24 years,” Dominic said Wednesday.
It speaks to the relationship the Caldwells have, and how the two brothers from Sarasota, Florida, have found a home in Chattanooga. Neither player started his collegiate career at UTC – Dominic was at Florida Atlantic, while A.J. went to South Alabama – but neither seems to have any complaints about his time in the Scenic City.
The two live together and spend a lot of their free time together, although they each avoid talking too much about their respective sports while at home.
Staff file photo by Robin Rudd / Former UTC quarterback Dominic Caldwell is now a quality control assistant for the football program, and it has given him a chance to be close to his brother A.J., who plays basketball for the Mocs.“When you’re close to someone, you can get on them and still be funny, but at the same time, I want what’s best for him,” Dominic said. “If he’s not doing right, or I’m not doing right, I’m going to get on him. It’s a really good relationship that you have where we can get mad at each other for two hours, then go and eat dinner together. It’s one of those close relationships that you have that’s not going to end anytime soon. I’m with that kid 24/7: We talk, we play video games together, we do all that fun stuff.