The courtship of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has ended. UTC is staying put in the Southern Conference after rejecting the advances of Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher.

How did this ill-fated romance begin?

“I called the chancellor and inquired if they would be open to looking at alternatives,” Steinbrecher said. “Chattanooga has been on our prospective member list for any number of years. They are in what I call our sphere of influence.”

Chattanooga Chancellor Roger Brown and new Athletics Director Rick Hart studied the possibility of leaving the 86-year-old league after Steinbrecher’s call last spring and announced their decision last week. UTC has three natural rivals in the OVC in UT-Martin, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State. Reportedly the SoCon is addressing travel issues with Chattanooga to help soothe some of the Mocs’ concerns.

The expansion and contraction of college athletic leagues like summertime sidewalks has slowed in the past year or so, but the OVC-Chattanooga affair illustrates that it’s not just Conference USA and the Sun Belt and the Big Ten – er, Eleven – that are maneuvering for new teams.

The Southern Conference, now at 11 schools with eight playing scholarship football, is also interesting in expanding. New Commissioner John Iamarino said his league’s presidents told him at his first meeting in June to collect information for their November summit.

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