University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Huesman seeks experienced OC

photo UTC coach Russ Huesman watches from the sidelines.

Sitting behind his desk inside McKenzie Arena on Friday, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman reeled off a list of attributes he's looking for in an offensive coordinator.

Huesman is searching for someone to replace Marcus Satterfield, who left the Mocs this week for a coordinator job at Temple University. Two of the key items on Huesman's candidate checklist are experience as an offensive coordinator and experience directing a spread offense.

"Change is good sometimes, I've said that before, and I don't want to lose Satt, but there are some good candidates out there," Huesman said. "I want them to at least have some background with [the spread]. Whether they've done it this past year [or not], I want somebody with that background."

After three seasons running a pro-style offense with quarterback B.J. Coleman, Satterfield led the Mocs' switch to a spread-oriented system in 2012. There were ups and downs during the Mocs' 6-5 season. UTC averaged 349.8 yards per game, eighth in the nine-team Southern Conference, which was about the yardage that Satterfield said after the season he expected in the Mocs' first go-round with the spread.

The offense returns nine of 11 starters, including quarterback Jacob Huesman and quarterback/wide receiver Terrell Robinson. Jacob finished with 1,712 yards passing and 904 rushing, with a combined 20 touchdowns. Robinson led UTC with 40 catches for 489 yards and five touchdowns, while also completing 30 of 44 passes for 296 yards.

At next week's American Football Coaches Association convention in Nashville, Russ Huesman will be one of the belles of the ball because he has a position available. Especially since it is a coordinator job.

"The worst thing is to not have a job and go to the convention," Coach Huesman said. "And then to go to the convention when you have a job [open] and you're hiring, that's the second worst thing."

Four coaches remain from the Mocs' staff in 2009, Huesman's first season: defensive coordinator Adam Fuller, defensive ends coach Marcus West, receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Will Healy and cornerbacks coach B.J. Hogan.

Being able to keep coordinators Satterfield and Fuller for four seasons was crucial for the development of the program, Coach Huesman emphasized.

"To keep them for four years was huge," he said. "And they're both good coaches. It's nice that we could keep them that long."

The Mocs have finished first or second in total defense in the SoCon, and top 13 in the FCS, the past two seasons. That makes Coach Huesman "pretty excited" to still have Fuller on his staff.

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