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SMU To Name Tennessee-Chattanooga's Rick Hart New Athletic Director

Hart would replace the fired Steve Orsini, and take over a Mustangs program with their entire future riding on Larry Brown and June Jones.

DALLAS - SEPTEMBER 24:  Fans of the SMU Mustangs wave a flag during play against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on September 24 2010 in Dallas Texas.  (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS - SEPTEMBER 24: Fans of the SMU Mustangs wave a flag during play against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on September 24 2010 in Dallas Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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The Dallas Morning News' Chuck Carlton is reporting that UTC athletic director Rick Hart will be named to the same position at SMU Monday:

Hart's resume boasts a steady improvement for the UT-C Mocs' APR scores, total student athlete GPA as well as 17 regular season and 22 tournament titles for the school in the Southern Conference. In his six years in Chattanooga, Hart was considered an overwhelming success, according to the Chatanooga Times Free Press:

"I'm extremely proud of Rick and I'm always happy when anybody on my staff goes out and goes on to have excellent and outstanding careers," chancellor Roger Brown said. "But I'm also sad because he's a dear friend and he's such a great part of the Mocs family.

Brown would replace Steve Orsini, fired just a month after making a national splash by hiring Larry Brown as the Mustangs' new mens basketball coach. As the DMN outlined in May, Orsini's undoing was the much-debated coaching search that ended with Brown, as well as the failure of former coach Matt Doherty and June Jones' near-departure for Arizona State.

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Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.