Tennessee Temple University Athletics was built around a clear identity, a compact campus sports structure, and a strong connection to small college competition. The program, known by the Crusaders nickname, represented Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and became part of the school’s wider campus culture.
The archived Quick Facts page gives readers a useful snapshot of the athletic department. It lists the school’s location, address, founding year, enrollment, team nickname, colors, affiliations, athletic staff, sports information contacts, facilities, coaches, and active sports programs. For anyone researching the TTU Crusaders, this page works as a compact reference point.
A Clear Identity for the Crusaders
The Tennessee Temple University athletic identity was easy to recognize. The school was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at 1815 Union Avenue. The university was founded in 1946, and the athletics program competed under the Crusaders nickname.
The school colors were red and black. These colors helped create a simple and memorable visual identity for teams, uniforms, athletic materials, and fan recognition. In small college athletics, details such as nickname and colors matter because they help connect teams, students, alumni, and supporters under one shared name.
The Quick Facts page also lists an enrollment of 357. That number gives useful context. Tennessee Temple was not a large public athletic program with massive crowds and national media coverage. It was a smaller university environment where athletics likely felt more personal, more connected to campus life, and more visible within the school community.
Affiliations and Competitive Structure
The Quick Facts page lists Tennessee Temple University Athletics as affiliated with the NCCAA and the USCAA. It also identifies the Mid-East as the listed conference connection. These affiliations are important for understanding the competitive environment around the Crusaders program.
Small college athletic programs often operate within associations that fit their size, mission, resources, and student-athlete profile. For TTU, these affiliations helped place the Crusaders within a broader network of schools that valued competitive athletics while still remaining outside the scale of major college sports.
This context matters for readers who may only know larger NCAA programs. The Crusaders story belongs to a different layer of college athletics, where school identity, regional competition, coaching relationships, and student development can be just as important as national visibility.
Athletic Leadership and Department Structure
The Quick Facts page names several people connected to the athletic department. Dr. Steve Echols is listed as president, while Randy Crawford is listed as athletic director. Lisa Wright is listed as athletic secretary, and Paul Laso is listed as faculty athletic representative.
These roles show that the athletic department was not only a collection of teams. It had an administrative structure that connected athletics to the wider university. The athletic director helped guide the program, the athletic secretary supported department operations, and the faculty athletic representative linked athletics with academic oversight and institutional responsibility.
This structure is important in small college sports. Athletic programs need coaches and players, but they also need administration, communication, scheduling, compliance, facilities, and academic coordination. The Quick Facts page helps preserve that wider picture.
Sports Information and Communication
The page also includes a sports information section. Ezell Dodd is listed as SID, with Nate Tompkins as assistant SID and Shaun Webster as G.A. SID. The SID role is especially important in college athletics because it connects teams with the public record.
Sports information staff often prepare game notes, publish recaps, update statistics, manage rosters, support media needs, and keep athletic websites current. For archived sites like TTU Crusaders, this work becomes even more valuable over time. Without sports information records, many small college athletic stories would be difficult to recover years later.
That is why a Quick Facts page is more than a simple list. It shows who helped organize and communicate the program at the time. It also gives future readers a clearer path into the school’s athletic history.
Facilities Used by Tennessee Temple Athletics
The Quick Facts page identifies several facilities connected to TTU sports. Basketball, volleyball, and wrestling were listed with McGilvray Gym. Soccer was listed with Camp Jordan Parks. Baseball was listed with AT&T Park, while softball was listed with Warner Park.
These facility details help readers understand how the Crusaders program operated across different sports. Some teams used gym-based indoor spaces, while others depended on field and park facilities around the area. This is common for smaller athletic departments, where teams may use a mix of campus and local community venues.
| Sport or Activity | Listed Facility |
|---|---|
| Basketball, Volleyball, Wrestling | McGilvray Gym |
| Soccer | Camp Jordan Parks |
| Baseball | AT&T Park |
| Softball | Warner Park |
Facilities are a key part of any athletic identity. They shape where teams practice, where supporters gather, and how athletes experience their seasons. For the Crusaders, these venues formed the physical setting of the program.
Coaches Listed in the TTU Quick Facts
The page also preserves a list of coaches connected to specific sports. Daniel Prevett is listed for men’s basketball, Monique Blanding for women’s basketball, Greg Bartley for baseball, Randy Crawford for fast-pitch softball, Ignacio “Nacho” Ortiz for men’s soccer, Samuel Mahtani for women’s soccer, and Mary Willis for volleyball.
Coach listings are valuable because they connect the athletic archive to real leadership roles. Coaches shape practice habits, team expectations, player development, discipline, and competitive culture. Their names help turn a simple sports list into a more complete athletic record.
| Sport | Coach Listed |
|---|---|
| Men’s Basketball | Daniel Prevett |
| Women’s Basketball | Monique Blanding |
| Baseball | Greg Bartley |
| Fast-Pitch Softball | Randy Crawford |
| Men’s Soccer | Ignacio “Nacho” Ortiz |
| Women’s Soccer | Samuel Mahtani |
| Volleyball | Mary Willis |
The page also includes alma mater and record details for several coaches. These small pieces of information help readers understand coaching background, program continuity, and where each team stood at the time the information was recorded.
Men’s, Women’s, and Club Sports
The Quick Facts page organizes TTU athletics into men’s sports, women’s sports, and club sports. Men’s sports included baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, and track and field. Women’s sports included cross country, basketball, soccer, softball, track and field, and volleyball. Club sports included cheerleading and wrestling.
This structure shows that Tennessee Temple Athletics covered a broad range of team and individual competition. Court sports, field sports, endurance sports, and club activities all contributed to the Crusaders identity.
The presence of both men’s and women’s programs is especially important for understanding the athletic department as a whole. It shows that the Crusaders name was not tied to only one flagship team. It represented a wider sports community across different seasons and competitive settings.
Why This Quick Facts Page Matters
Quick Facts pages are often overlooked, but they are essential for athletic archives. They give readers the foundation they need before exploring game recaps, schedules, rosters, coach pages, and team histories.
For Tennessee Temple University Athletics, this page answers basic but important questions. Where was the school located? What was the team nickname? What were the colors? Which associations did the program belong to? Who led the athletic department? Which facilities were used? Which sports were part of the program?
Without these details, the rest of the archive would feel less complete. With them, readers can better understand the setting around every Crusaders season, team, and athlete.
Conclusion
The Tennessee Temple University Athletics Quick Facts page preserves a compact but valuable record of the Crusaders program. It captures the school’s athletic identity, administrative structure, sports information staff, facilities, coaches, and team categories in one place.
For alumni, sports history readers, and anyone interested in small college athletics, this page helps explain what the Crusaders represented. It shows a program rooted in Chattanooga, shaped by red and black colors, connected to NCCAA and USCAA competition, and supported by coaches, staff, facilities, and student-athletes across multiple sports.
Most importantly, it gives future readers a clear starting point for understanding the Tennessee Temple Crusaders athletic legacy.
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