University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Rusty Wright made the hiring of offensive line coach Chris Malone official Monday afternoon. Malone coached under Russ Huesman in 2014 and 2015, when his linemen helped produce two FCS playoff appearances. In his final season in Chattanooga, the Mocs rushed for more than 3,000 yards and had a pair of 1,000-yard rushers. "We are excited to have Chris come back to join our program," Wright said. "We won a lot of games and had a lot of success when he was here before. Working on the opposite side of the ball from him when we were on Coach Huesman's staff, I got to see firsthand how he prepared every day. I know he will do an outstanding job with our offensive line." Malone has been the line coach at Old Dominion since 2016, and the 2016 team led Conference USA teams in rushing and allowed the second-fewest sacks among conference teams. He was part of a staff-wide shakeup following the 2018 season as coach Bobby Wilder let seven assistant coaches go. Malone also had stints at Virginia State, James Madison, Massachusetts and VMI following a playing career at Virginia Tech where he made 47 consecutive starts in the offensive line, earning All-Big East honors in 1995. "I am excited to be back at UTC," Malone said. "I really enjoyed my time here before, and Chattanooga has a bright future. I know that Coach Wright's vision for the program has us focused on returning to a championship level."
Basketball
' Tennessee Wesleyan senior Hunter Simpson was named Monday the Appalachian Athletic Conference women's basketball player of the week after becoming the Lady Bulldogs' all-time leading scorer, but she played only 16 minutes and scored seven points Monday evening in their fifth straight win, an 83-35 home rout of Brenau. TWU (14-7, 12-7) won by three points two months earlier at Brenau. In the rematch, moved up a day because of the threat of inclement weather, Hannah Cherry and Kenzie Conn each scored 14 points and Jacobi Lynn and Savannah Atkins added 12 and 11 for the Lady Bulldogs, Lynn with four 3-point baskets. Gina Dick had 12 rebounds and seven assists; Hannah Troutt had seven rebounds. Simpson's career total for points now is 1,608, and she is second in the AAC this season with 18.4 points per game.
' The Wesleyan men's nonconference game tonight at nearby Hiwassee has been moved to next Monday at 8 p.m. Also moved from tonight to Monday is Bryan's AAC doubleheader at Montreat, but the Covenant women's USA South game at Maryville was moved only one night to Wednesday.