Tom Arth initially wasn't sure what sort of coach Matt Feeney would be.
Having coached Feeney at John Carroll University in 2013, Arth was approached after the season about the possibility of Feeney becoming a volunteer assistant with the program.
"Matt as a player, Matt as a captain, was really great," Arth said recently. "But Matt's a quiet guy; it's his nature, his personality. I knew he was smart enough, I knew he was a great person, I knew he'd work hard, but is he going to be a great coach? I don't know if I knew that right away."
It didn't take long for Feeney to quash any doubt about his ability. He was a graduate assistant at John Carroll by the 2015 season and was one of the coaches who followed when Arth took over as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head coach. Feeney was initially the inside linebackers coach, but after defensive coordinator Tom Kaufman left for Kent State, Arth had no issues making Feeney the coordinator.
"Not many people have the capability of rising that quickly, but Matt is a superstar. He really is," Arth said. "He's extremely, extremely smart, and he has a great feel. His personality is really going to benefit him because he's a very even-keel guy, and sometimes you need that as a play-caller. You can't ride the wave of emotion; you can't make emotional decisions, emotional calls or put the defense at risk by putting players in bad situations.
"That's what gives me a lot of peace with Matt. Number one, I know how smart he is, I know how well he understands the system and know how well he knows the players, but I also know he has the demeanor to make intelligent decisions and not emotional ones."
Feeney's first opportunity to prove Arth's words true come Thursday when the Mocs host Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m. at Finley Stadium. He turned down an opportunity to join Kaufman at Kent State to stay at UTC, giving him a chance to put his own touches on the defense that he taught to Kaufman upon arrival at UTC in the spring of 2017 after Arth's first defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley, took a job with the Chicago Bears.
"I'm really excited, but I think you let the week build up and culminate until you get out there," Feeney said. "You don't really want to let the first-game jitters, let the emotion of being excited for the first game get to you and start riding the wave of emotion, riding the highs and riding the lows. You don't ever want to be there, so I try to stay even-keel and focused throughout the week and maintain that same sort of mentality throughout the game and instill it in the players. It's really easy to get players to have so much energy to start, but the second one thing goes wrong or right, they either get too high or too low.
"I try to get that point to the players as well as myself."
Feeney's first game plan becomes tricky because the Golden Eagles brought a new coaching staff in after the 2017 season, with former Calhoun High School standout Tre Lamb - a Tennessee Tech alumnus - taking over as the offensive play-caller. Tennessee Tech's depth chart has true freshman Bailey Fisher listed as the starting quarterback, and running back Andrew Goldsmith (589 yards in 2017) is the top returning offensive talent.
The coaching staff flipped 2017 cornerback Josh Cunningham, who started his career at receiver, back to the offensive side of the ball. They also brought over 6-foot-3, 215-pound Devin Sullivan from linebacker to back up Goldsmith at running back.
The receiving corps had a complete overall, with Minnesota graduate transfer Melvin Holland Jr. and true freshman Brad Clark listed with Cunningham as starters.
"At the end of the day, them not knowing what we're going to do and us really not knowing what they're going to do, it becomes a guessing game," Feeney said. "It really gets us to focus on following our rules. We have rules for every defense we're in, and we try to test our rules throughout the week and we try to put them in the most difficult situations throughout the week in practice, so when we see the most random thing in the game, it's something we may not have done, but they can apply their rules and just go out and play."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.