Jim Foster has watched so much around him in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic department change in the span of less than a year.
Most of the turnover came out of nowhere, and even one major change considered a possibility didn't happen as expected.
The names around Foster, UTC's women's basketball coach since 2013, started to change last December.
Huesman. McCall. Blackburn. Each had enjoyed his share of successful times with the Mocs. Now all of them are gone.
Those names have been replaced by Arth, Paris and Wharton, with each bringing a vision of how to put his stamp on the program.
The time of rapid change came to a conclusion Wednesday, when former Penn State associate athletic director for development Mark Wharton was introduced as UTC's new vice chancellor and athletic director at the University Center. He replaced David Blackburn, who resigned in June.
Lamont Paris speaks for the first time Tuesday as Mocs basketball coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Tuesday.
Tom Arth enters the Stadium Club Tuesday to speak to fans, the media and attending players for the first meeting as the new Chattanooga Mocs head football coach midday at Finley Stadium.Blackburn's name was a hot one last fall, when the former Tennessee athletic department employee was floated as a candidate to replace Dave Hart, whose tenure as AD was set to end this year. Most people had Blackburn pegged for the job, which ultimately went to former Kansas State athletic director John Currie.
But Blackburn - hired in 2013 - was the last of the three big fish to leave, and his departure ultimately might be considered the most surprising. By June, former Mocs football coach Russ Huesman had been set up at the University of Richmond for six months, leaving his alma mater after a successful eight-year run that included 59 wins, three Southern Conference championships and three appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
He was replaced by Tom Arth, previously the head coach at Division III member John Carroll University.
Former men's basketball coach Matt McCall - considered one of the hottest coaching commodities in the country after a first season that included 29 wins, a Southern Conference championship and an NCAA tournament bid in 2015-16 - bolted for an opening at the University of Massachusetts in April. It had seemed unlikely McCall would be gone after a 2016-17 season in which the Mocs lost eight of their final 12 games and last five.
He was replaced by Lamont Paris, most recently an assistant at Wisconsin.
Under the circumstances - Blackburn being passed over for the Tennessee job, Huesman and his deep ties to UTC and McCall's disappointing end to his second season - none of the changes were expected.
But they happened.
"It's been a year of change," UTC chancellor Steven Angle said, "but I think it speaks to the resilience of the program and the university and the great support staff. To some extent, we didn't miss a beat."
Angle credited Scott Altizer, who stepped in as the interim athletic director, for his help over the past two months.
"For us, this is an OK time for a transition in athletic director," Angle said. "No time is good, but when it comes along, you've got to be ready to go with it.
"When I look at where we are, Lamont Paris is a class act - he's here to build a program, not to just come in a flash and leave. He wants to build men's basketball, and we're going to work with him to do that. Tom Arth, there's no better ambassador to this community than Tom Arth and his family, and I think the group of assistant coaches he's assembled are just outstanding people as well as talented coaches.
"We're in great shape because of the depth of the bench in the rest of our programs."
Only two UTC head coaches - Mark Guhne (men's golf) and Colette Murray (women's golf) - have been in their positions for at least 10 seasons. Three coaches - Arth, Paris and men's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher - are in their first years.
Foster, the Hall of Fame coach who was on the search committee that selected Wharton, was the only remaining face of the revenue sports and the best-known name remaining in the department.
"David was very good at hiring coaches and people in positions," Foster said after Wharton's introductory press conference. "Tom Arth is a home run, Lamont (Paris) is a home run. They know what they're doing, and it's evident they know what they're doing. They just have to bring their philosophy in front of the players and players have to buy into it, and how they are and how they present themselves, I don't think that'll be a tough sell.
"To replace David, the hunt was without him, so I think the committee and chancellor did a great job of focusing in on someone who can take that next step for us, and I think he (Wharton) is very cognizant of what needs to be done, and he has a lot of experience in the areas we need help in initially."
Wharton said he was bluntly honest with coaches during meetings about how he was going to allocate resources through the department, and that they "might not like the answer, but I'd rather them not like the answer than to later find out something else."
And it was that honesty that made Foster - known as a bluntly honest person in his own right - gravitate to Wharton.
"It's refreshing, a sign of someone you want to work with," Foster said. "He's direct, cuts to the chase and doesn't beat around the bush. He's been a lot of places I'm familiar with, and I know a lot of people in those places and the message is consistent in terms of people. He's a good people person, and all those attributes that I mentioned before come into play.
"David did a great job. When I got here, this place needed a lot of work. Now this is a good job to walk into because it's gone from level A to B, and C and D are down the road. There are a lot of things he doesn't have to do walking in the door, but the things we really need, he's really good at.
"I think he's going to hit the ground running in those areas - like fundraising - and I look forward to seeing what doors he can open."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.