Category Archives: Southern Hospitality

The Ron Sattele-approved road to Holland

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You may remember us writing about Oglethorpe coach Ron Sattele, or us interviewing him on Hoopsville or the Southern Hospitality tour.

Back in December, Sattele told me about many things, including his trip to the 2007 Final Four in which he refused to drive the interstate.

So while the NCAA will be flying Sattele and the Stormy Petrels to the Final Four, you may be curious: If Sattele were driving his Porsche, how would he go? Look no further — it may not be MSN Mappoint’s shortest possible distance, but it’s sure a complicated route.

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Turn by turn, by turn by turn by turn by turn by turn, from Oglethorpe to Holland:

1. Head northeast on Peachtree Rd NE toward Lanier Dr NE 0.2 mi
2. Turn left at Ashford Dunwoody Rd NE 5.1 mi 11 mins
3. Slight right at Mt Vernon Rd 0.2 mi
4. Turn left at Chamblee Dunwoody Rd 0.5 mi 1 min
5. Continue on Roberts Dr 1.3 mi 2 mins
6. Turn left at Spalding Dr 0.3 mi 1 min
7. Turn right at Pitts Rd 0.7 mi 1 min
8. Turn right at Roswell Rd 2.2 mi 4 mins
9. Continue on S Atlanta St 1.7 mi 4 mins
10. Continue on Canton St 0.8 mi 3 mins
11. Continue on Crabapple Rd 4.6 mi 10 mins
12. Turn left at Birmingham Hwy/GA-372 9.9 mi 16 mins
13. Turn left at Freehome Hwy/GA-372
Continue to follow GA-372 12.1 mi 17 mins
14. Turn right at GA-372/GA-5-BR 2.1 mi 3 mins
15. Turn left at GA-372 N/GA-5-BR N 1.8 mi 3 mins
16. Slight right at GA-5 N/GA-515 N 11.2 mi 13 mins
17. Turn right at Antioch Church Rd 0.2 mi 1 min
18. Turn left at GA-136/GA-754
Continue to follow GA-136 14.8 mi 18 mins
19. Turn right at Old GA-61/Old US-411 8.5 mi 11 mins
20. Turn left at GA-282/Mountain Rd/US-76 0.2 mi 1 min
21. Continue on Smyrna Ramhurst Rd 3.6 mi 6 mins
22. Turn left at Smyrna Church Rd 0.1 mi
23. Turn right at Spring Place Smyrna Rd 2.7 mi 4 mins
24. Turn right at GA-225
Entering Tennessee 16.9 mi 23 mins
25. Continue on Spring Pl Rd SE/TN-74 11.6 mi 16 mins
26. Turn right to merge onto APD 40/TN-60 N/US-64-BYP E/US-74 E
Continue to follow TN-60 N 29.3 mi 50 mins
27. Turn right at Rhea County Hwy/US-27 N 17.3 mi 27 mins
28. Turn right at TN-68/Wassom Memorial Hwy
Continue to follow TN-68 21.2 mi 31 mins
29. Slight right at US-127 N
Entering Kentucky 67.2 mi 1 hour 29 mins
30. Turn right at US-127 N/S Washington St
Continue to follow US-127 N 4.6 mi 6 mins
31. Turn left at KY-90/US-127
Continue to follow US-127 24.3 mi 30 mins
32. At the traffic circle, take the 3rd exit and stay on US-127 51.3 mi 1 hour 6 mins
33. Turn left at S Danville Bypass/US-127-BYP N/US-150-BYP N
Continue to follow S Danville Bypass/US-127-BYP N 5.3 mi 8 mins
34. Continue straight onto Harrodsburg Rd/US-127 N
Continue to follow US-127 N 22.2 mi 29 mins
35. Continue on US-127-BYP N 6.6 mi 8 mins
36. Turn left at KY-151/US-127
Continue to follow KY-151 7.9 mi 13 mins
37. Turn left at US-60 12.1 mi 17 mins
38. Turn right at KY-55-CONN 1.2 mi 3 mins
39. Continue straight onto KY-55 21.6 mi 32 mins
40. Turn left at US-421 22.2 mi 31 mins
41. Turn left to stay on US-421
Entering Indiana 0.8 mi 2 mins
42. Turn left at E 2nd St/US-421
Continue to follow E 2nd St 0.4 mi 2 mins
43. Turn right at Jefferson St 0.4 mi 2 mins
44. Continue on US-421 N 25.2 mi 30 mins
45. Turn left at US-421/US-50
Continue to follow US-421 23.3 mi 32 mins
46. Turn right at IN-46 0.1 mi
47. Turn left at N Lincoln St 1.4 mi 4 mins
48. Turn right at IN-3 N 17.6 mi 26 mins
49. Turn right toward US-52 233 ft
50. Turn left at US-52 0.5 mi 2 mins
51. Continue on IN-3/N Main St
Continue to follow IN-3 14.2 mi 22 mins
52. Turn left to stay on IN-3 24.7 mi 36 mins
53. Turn right to merge onto IN-3 N/IN-67 N
Continue to follow IN-3 N 42.5 mi 57 mins
54. Turn left at E 600 S/IN-124 3.7 mi5 mins
55. Turn right at IN-5/S Warren Rd 8.7 mi 11 mins
56. Continue on S Broadway St 2.2 mi 5 mins
57. Turn left at E Park Dr/US-24-BR W 0.7 mi 2 mins
58. Turn right at N Mishler Rd/Old IN-9
Continue to follow Old IN-9 1.0 mi 3 mins
59. Continue on IN-9/N Mishler Rd
Continue to follow IN-9 17.9 mi 25 mins
60. Turn left at US-30-BR/W Van Buren St 0.2 mi
61. Turn right at N Line St 1.5 mi 4 mins
62. Continue on IN-109 11.0 mi 15 mins
63. Turn left at US-33 10.2 mi 15 mins
64. Continue on IN-5/Lincolnway S
Continue to follow IN-5 19.4 mi 29 mins
65. Turn left at W 600N/IN-120
Continue to follow IN-120 5.3 mi 7 mins
66. Turn right at IN-13
Entering Michigan 2.3 mi 5 mins
67. Continue on US-131 6.5 mi 9 mins
68. Continue on N Washington St 0.2 mi
69. Continue on Youngs Prairie Rd 5.2 mi 6 mins
70. Turn left at M-60 3.9 mi 6 mins
71. Turn right at M-40 8.8 mi 11 mins
72. Turn left at M-40/W Main St
Continue to follow M-40 37.5 mi 50 mins
73. Turn left at N Cedar St/M-40/M-89 0.2 mi
74. Turn left at Cutler St/M-40/M-89
Continue to follow M-40 22.0 mi 33 mins

You pull into Holland in a mere 17 hours, 52 minutes. It’s 747 miles.

In contrast, the directions including interstates have 10 turns and takes you 798 miles, but only takes 12 hours, 15 minutes.

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Southern Hospitality: Coaches speak

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That’s “coaches speak” rather than “coachspeak” because I felt like we got some really well thought-out responses in speaking to coaches on the Southern Hospitality tour this week in the deep South.

In all I talked to 13 coaches with the recorder rolling, as well as a couple of others. Most interviews were preceded or followed by some more discussion off the record. Those discussions are great background for me to use in understanding what’s going on.

But I spotlight four coaches in this section, three of them from Georgia and one from Alabama. They have varying levels of experience in Division III and in coaching, varying lengths of time at their schools. But if you listen, you’ll hear some common themes.

For Mitch Cole, at Birmingham-Southern, it’s building a team from scratch. The program itself has been there throughout, obviously, with the infrastructure in place. But every player is new this year after the school did not field a team last season. The things that have to be micromanaged by the coach are somewhat surprising. Listen to his interview for more.

For Philip Ponder, at Oglethorpe, it’s a battle to grow into a competitive program with a young team.

For Lee Glenn, at Piedmont, the concern is getting numbers into the program. And taking care of a newborn baby, as his wife gave birth about five hours after this interview concluded. (Congrats!)

For Jason Zimmerman, at Emory, it’s also getting adjusted to Division III. He’s new to Emory, with a team that has six seniors but not a lot of experience. He has something to say about how Division III players compare with Division I players, having coached at both levels.

But the benefits of some of the schools are interesting as well. Listen in to each take.

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For the 11th time, let’s tip off

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ATLANTA — If this is Emory, this must be Tuesday. Or Wednesday. I’ve been crossed up on the days of the week all … well, week.

This is the final game of the Southern Hospitality tour. Twenty-two teams have battled to try to keep from becoming a blur in my mind. Perhaps I should be doing the battling.

Mitch Cole, the Birmingham-Southern coach, just came over to me and said “everything I say tonight is off the record!”

I told him I wouldn’t stick my head in his huddle (his bench is right next to my seat at the scorer’s table) but if the fans could hear it then I don’t think it could be off the record.

Birmingham-Southern huddles up

Emory is back after a three-week layoff. Spiros Ferderigos, Emory’s best player, has his left hand taped, but hit a three-pointer early and more or less controlled a rebound with that hand so he looks OK for now.

Emory and Birmingham-Southern are both 6-3.

Darkest gym ever?

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DECATUR, Ga. — At Agnes Scott College this afternoon and I cannot recall having been in a darker gym. I can’t imagine a night game here because some of the light is natural.

Now, that having been said, the campus is really nice. I’ve been to some women’s schools that give off the appearance that they’re in trouble as an institution, but this is not one of them.

Agnes Scott lists 12 on its roster but I never saw more than nine warm up. And 13 minutes to tip they are still back in their locker room.

Phonernetting here too.

Edit: The podcasts are up. Alex Stewart, the Agnes Scott head coach, played basketball at Georgia Tech, so she has some interesting perspective on moving from the ACC to the GSAC.

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Welcome to 2008. Or 1958.

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LaGRANGE, Ga. — That’s what it feels like, anyway in Mariotti Gymnasium here at LaGrange. It is a building high on character but low on amenities.

I can’t get on the Net here yet so you’ll have to wait for a photo but picture Hoosiers-type seating for maybe 600 people. No word if Hampden-Sydney coach Bubba Smith took out a tape measure and compared it to their gym back in Farmville.

LaGrange SID John Hughes tells me the building opened in 1958. The other athletic facilities are about a half-mile from here and are a lot more modern.

A lot of HSC fans here, probably many connected to Drew Prehmus and Tyler Murray, Tiger seniors from Atlanta.

You can listen on HSC’s radio broadcast from their Web site. If I weren’t typing on my phone I’d say more.

Edit: I’ve added today’s interview, with LaGrange men’s coach Warren Haynes.

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