Staff Photo by Meghan Brown
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling coach Chris Bono coaches during the Southern Conference Wrestling Championships at McKenzie Arena.
Chris Bono has resigned as wrestling coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and will be returning to his old job as assistant head coach at Iowa State.
“It’s home and it’s family plus it’s a chance to go back to a fresh start and work under a guy for whom I have tremendous respect,” Bono said.
Bono, a four-time NCAA qualifier and a NCAA champion during his time at Iowa State, will go to work for Kevin Jackson, who was named head coach earlier this year. He also will be joining former Mocs assistant Nate Gallick, another Iowa State alum who was named the team’s volunteer coach last month.
“I would never have done this with any other school in the country, and I don’t know that I would have done it to work under any other coach,” he said.
UTC athletic director Rick Hart has known that Bono was considering the offer, which was made last week.
“This is something he and I have been discussing and assessing. When he made up his mind this morning he had only positive things to say about his time here,” Hart said Wednesday evening. “Chris was clear about his reasons and it wasn’t anything that he didn’t have or something we weren’t doing. This was simply an opportunity for him to return to his alma mater and a chance for his family to go home.”
Bono’s three-year run as the Mocs included consecutive regular season and tournament championships each season and an unbeaten streak against Southern Conference opponents.
“The wrestlers believed in my system and in me. I feel like I’m letting them down, but I feel they’re going to win some championships for whomever comes in. There are some champions and all-Americans in this group.”
The Mocs have five returning NCAA qualifiers including former All-American Cody Cleveland.
The program improved under Bono beyond wins and losses and its first top 10 appearance two years ago in the wrestling coaches association’s national poll.
“I look at it in terms of how we talk about our vision and our goals for our department. There are three goals – academic, athletic and social — and I look at those areas and the culture he created in our wrestling program,” Hart said. “He made sure our student athletes were using the opportunity to get an education and transformed (low) APR scores. Athletically, we competed for championships and captured the conference championships. Then you look at individuals we sent to NCAA (tournament) and the all-Americans and the development of kids socially. And then overarching all of that was the leadership he provided and the way he managed all facets of the program from athletics to community relations to budget, fund-raising and management of his staff.”
Bono returned the compliment to Hart, to the wrestlers, the wrestling community in Chattanooga and the parents and supporters.
“Rick Hart is unbelievable. The people in Chattanooga need to get to know this guy and understand that he is a great person and appreciate the job he’s doing for UTC. Have nothing but the utmost respect for him,” Bono said. “The boosters have been nothing but the best to me. These guys care about this program. Whoever gets this job is going to have a great amount of support. The boosters support here is second to none. The local coaches have been nothing but great. The wrestlers believed in my system and in me. The fans have been awesome and supported us like no other group. And the parents have been great for taking up tickets to working concession stand. Whenever I needed anything, somebody was there in this community to give it to me — whether it was baking a cake for the banquet or working that game, whatever.”
