Former Tennessee football coach Phil Fulmer greets referees at halftime of the Vols’ homecoming game in November 2015. Might Fulmer be interested in becoming the next athletic director at UTC?Although there is no timetable for the replacement of former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director David Blackburn, there will most certainly be a lot of interest for the position.
And because of Blackburn’s success, his replacement will have a tough standard to meet.
All six of the head coaches he hired in his four-year tenure, which ended when he resigned Tuesday, have shown promise. Two of those – former men’s basketball coaches Matt McCall and Will Wade – have moved on, with Wade now at LSU (by way of VCU) and McCall about to begin his first season at Massachusetts. Blackburn’s most recent hires, football coach Tom Arth and men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris, have not coached in a game for UTC but have had solid early reviews for their offseason work.
In replacing Blackburn, the university wants to take time to make the best possible decision.
UTC could hire internally, because four of its senior associate athletic directors have résumés worth considering. Scott Altizer has assumed the interim role, having just completed his third season as the senior associate AD for internal operations. He spent 20 years in different roles in the University of Tennessee athletic department, most recently as the director of football operations.