For six years, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director Mark Wharton has shown extreme loyalty to the coaches he has hired.
The greatest example of that was extending the contract of former men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris, who was 22-43 after two seasons with the Mocs. Paris rewarded Wharton and UTC with 65 wins in his final three seasons and the program’s first Southern Conference tournament championship since 2016 before taking the South Carolina job after the 2021-22 season.
Friday, the university rewarded Wharton’s loyalty, giving him an extension keeping him in his current position through the 2027-28 school year.
“Mark has shown exemplary leadership in guiding our athletics program,” UTC chancellor Steve Angle said in a news release announcing the extension. “He has built a culture that has positively influenced our student-athletes’ success in the classroom, in competition and in the community.
“He has assembled and developed an outstanding staff that includes a talented group of coaches and administrators. They have worked tirelessly to recruit, guide and mentor our outstanding student-athletes who are exemplary representatives of our university. I am excited about the direction of our athletics program and look forward to enjoying their continued success.”
Hired by UTC in August 2017, Wharton came to the Scenic City after spending four years as an associate AD at Penn State. His role there was focused on development, and that served him well from the start in Chattanooga, where his tenure — which included dealing with the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic — has included multiple accomplishments personally and by the Mocs.
Not surprisingly, Wharton has done well in fundraising, with the Mocs Club topping $3.3 million raised the past two years and setting a UTC athletics record for the most raised in gifts and commitments in 2022-23. In addition, UTC athletes notably had a 3.421 overall GPA in spring 2020, setting a record for the school, and 91% of Mocs student-athletes graduated in 2022.
Earlier this year, Wharton was honored as a Cushman and Wakefield AD of the year honoree, one of four recipients in the Football Championship Subdivision.
In addition to the men’s basketball team’s league championship under Paris, UTC has won SoCon titles in men’s tennis, softball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer and wrestling in the past five years. Most of those titles came under coaches hired by Wharton, including women’s basketball coach Shawn Poppie and wrestling coach Kyle Ruschell. He also hired football coach Rusty Wright, men’s basketball coach Dan Earl, volleyball coach Julie Torbett Thomas and men’s golf coach Blaine Woodruff, who helped his program to a final ranking of No. 41 this past season.
“I am extremely grateful to Dr. Angle for the opportunity to continue to work at such an outstanding institution,” Wharton said in the release. “His support for our student-athletes is unbelievable and the university’s support for athletics is a driving force behind our success.
“I want to thank our coaches and staff for their continued dedication to our program. Most importantly, I want to commend our student-athletes for their efforts in the classroom, in competition and the way they represent the Power C. We have accomplished a lot over the last six years, but there is much more left to achieve.”
UTC’s release did not include salary information. In June 2021, Wharton received a four-year contract extension through 2026, and the Times Free Press reported then that his base salary for 2020 was $210,000. According to the University of Tennessee System’s online salary database updated last November, Wharton’s 2022 pay was $220,000.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.