UTC Mocs logoHeath Eslinger brought the takedown T-shirt to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Now the Mocs coach is bringing dining by candlelight matside.
UTC, which hurls a team T-shirt into the stands upon every takedown by a Moc, will host the inaugural Candlelight Dinner Match on Dec. 16 at Maclellan Gym, when it hosts Gardner-Webb to open Southern Conference competition.
The dinner is being sponsored and catered by Taziki’s. It is a fundraiser but also an effort by Eslinger to draw new fans to the sport and to make Mocs wrestling a Chattanooga happening.
“People don’t necessarily enjoy games. They enjoy events,” he said. “It’s obviously a fundraiser, but it’s a way to make wrestling meets more of an event rather than just a wrestling meet.”
It’s been decades since anyone tried to generate serious excitement at Maclellan, possibly back to the days when former UTC basketball coach Ron Shumate, who brought “Rocky Top” to college athletics, first darkened the gym and spotlighted his starters during introductions.