The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team’s 2023-24 season came to a close Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament, with the Mocs finishing with a whole lot more wins (28) than losses (five).
Now the real challenge begins.
In an age when transfer rules and the portal have made the work of retaining players from year to year — and replacing those who leave — simply part of the process in college athletics, it will likely be UTC administrators who have the toughest battle this offseason: keeping Shawn Poppie in the fold as the program’s head coach.
In two seasons with the Mocs, the former Virginia Tech assistant has compiled a 48-18 record, two Southern Conference tournament championships and one regular-season title as UTC swept the league crowns this year. Early success of that kind often leads to a coach being considered a candidate for more high-profile jobs, and Poppie’s name has at the very least made the social media rounds regarding openings at schools such as Clemson and Kentucky.
It’s not something that could be, or should be, ignored by UTC, and it’s part of the territory for a program that this year improved to 20-0 in SoCon title games. Winning draw attention as others seek to know what led to that success, and for the current Mocs, a big part of that is Poppie.