Mark Wiedmer started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press on Valentine's Day of 1983. At the time, he had to get an advance from his boss to buy a Valentine gift for his wife. Mark was hired as a graphic artist but quickly moved to sports, where he oversaw prep football for a time, won the "Pick' em" box in 1985 and took over the UTC basketball beat the following year. By 1990, he was the newspaper's lead sports columnist, a title he still holds today after a couple of Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year awards and a box full of other honors. He joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press when the Free Press and Times merged in 1999. Mark hails from Hopkinsville, Ky., and graduated from Centre College. Contact Mark at 423-757-6273. or mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.
University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban makes $8.6 million a year to win games. That is beyond argument or discussion, as is the fact that no one else in his sport has accomplished that task so well for so long.
by Mark WiedmerNick Tiano couldn't quit smiling. Who could blame the senior quarterback?
by Mark WiedmerUTC vs. The Citadel college football game results as they happen.
by Mark Wiedmer and Lindsey YoungNext man up.
by Mark WiedmerThe first time Ralph Potter laid eyes on defensive lineman Jay Hardy, the McCallie coach said to himself, "Now that's a major college prospect."
by Mark WiedmerIn a few minutes, Rusty Wright would begin the next-to-last weekly media luncheon of his first season as head football coach of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs.
by Mark WiedmerWere you to go back two days to the pre-1 p.m. kickoff slot of another NFL Sunday, it's doubtful if the fan bases of either the Atlanta Falcons or Tennessee Titans would have minded much if they'd been told that both franchises would be looking for new head coaches by nightfall.
by Mark WiedmerIt's not as if Tennessee Titans defensive back Joshua Kalu had never made a memorable special teams play before.
by Mark WiedmerYou can throw out all the one-word explanations you want for this comeback from a 10-point halftime deficit.
by Mark WiedmerTennessee vs. Kentucky college football game results as they happen.
by Mark Wiedmer and Gene HenleyThe Juice Man cometh.
by Mark WiedmerIf you don't yet appreciate that Saturday's LSU-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa is Game-of-the-Century type stuff, you surely will by 3:30 that afternoon.
by Mark WiedmerThe enormity of what stood before the McCallie School cross country team began to sink into Blue Tornado senior Samuel Ligon's head and heart as he approached the starting line at Nashville's Percy Warner Park on Saturday afternoon.
by Mark WiedmerIf the University of Tennessee football team's latest win is any indication, the Big Orange Nation once more has a football program to make its Pride of the Southland Marching Band proud.
by Mark WiedmerIn the final minutes before McCallie took the field Friday night for its final regular-season game of the year against visiting Ensworth, the Blue Tornado honored their 18 seniors, who have won 25 games since the start of their sophomore season and won at least one playoff contest each of those years.
by Mark WiedmerYou can't make this stuff up.
by Mark WiedmerYou may have seen Mike Fitzgerald around town the last two or three weeks wearing a unique baseball cap.
by Mark WiedmerIsaiah Mack should have been excited for himself above all else Sunday afternoon.
by Mark WiedmerIf you're a Tennessee football fan, remember this date: Oct. 26, 2019.
by Mark WiedmerOn a Friday night far from perfect to play a high school football game, McCallie's perfect season found a watery grave, drowned by a deluge of rain and Clearwater (Florida) Academy International speed and power.
by Mark Wiedmer