The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team is $125,000 richer thanks to a grant from the Atlanta-based Arnold Fund.
“I want to thank the Arnold Foundation for investing in the betterment of our student-athletes,” UTC athletic director Rick Hart said. “It is always exciting to receive gifts of this magnitude from our constituents.”
The money will be given in $25,000 increments over a five-year period, and coach Heath Eslinger said the funds will be used for team travel and recruiting. Those funds will be in addition to what had been or might be budgeted for Mocs wrestling.
“We can use it where we need it,” Eslinger said.
UTC wrestler Bryan Flint, a Southern Conference champion in 1990 and ’91, is an Arnold Fund board member.
“He has been involved a little [with the program recently]. We went down and met him in Atlanta and did a clinic. It’s about building relationships,” Eslinger said. “But the alumni here at UTC are the ones who have made this program what it is. We want to continue that and hopefully add to it.”
Eslinger said UTC has benefited greatly from alumni support, “and I believe that the alumni support of Chattanooga wrestling rivals any Division I program in the country. Bryan’s efforts to secure this gift show his loyalty and commitment to helping us achieve our goal of making UTC one of the premier wrestling programs in the nation.”
Hart was delighted with the gift and particularly pleased that a former Moc was responsible.
“It is more special when it is a former student-athlete who is giving back to our program,” Hart said. “It shows that our alumni are on board with our vision of establishing comprehensive excellence as the UTC standard.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.