The Chattanooga Mocs athletics program announces a change in leadership in the men’s basketball program Wednesday afternoon. Head Coach John Shulman is being released after nine seasons on the Chattanooga bench.

UTC made two NCAA Tournament appearances, won two Southern Conference Championships and four Southern Conference North Division titles in Shulman’s tenure. It was his first head coaching position.

His nine years heading the program is third-longest in Mocs history behind Mack McCarthy (12, 1986-87) and Leon Ford (10, 1963-72). He is No. 2 in wins trailing McCarthy’s 243.

Shulman was promoted to head coach after two seasons as an assistant to then-head coach Jeff Lebo in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Lebo departed for the head coaching position at Auburn and a complete search for a replacement led to Shulman’s ascension to the lead chair.

His first team in 2004-05 went 20-11, defeated Tennessee in the regular season, captured the SoCon Championship and made the first UTC trip to the NCAA Big Dance since the Sweet 16 season of 1997. The seven-year postseason drought was the longest of the school’s DI era which began in 1977-78.

Shulman’s 2009 squad overcame a spate of injuries in the regular season to win the school’s 10th SoCon Championship and NCAA Appearance. That team also made a memorable week-long appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon during its NCAA Tournament run.

A national search for a successor begins immediately.