On the road again: High school coaches discuss long travel

“From what I’m told, when (former Rabun County coach Jaybo Shaw) made our schedule, he said no one would travel here to play us. That’s sad because there are a lot of big gates to be had, and everyone needs revenue. It’s a lot harder for our fans to travel across the state, as opposed to the next county over. Our superintendent and administration have been very understanding, and they’ve been really good about letting us get out of school early. We’ve gotten out as early as 11:30 a.m. for our games against Heard County and Haralson County, which are on other side of state for us. We did a walk-through in a Cracker Barrel parking lot for our first trip against Haralson County, and we won. I’m superstitious, so we’ve been doing our pregame meal at Cracker Barrels ever since. We usually do a hamburger steak, potatoes and green beans and as many biscuits as they can put on the table. We sit down and eat, and we’re out of there in 35 minutes. Since we won against Haralson County, we’ve stayed with them, and they’ve been awesome. The kids like it, and it’s good food. We go around 3:30 p.m., so that it’s not too crowded, and that kind of breaks the trip up.”

Chad Cheatham, Fannin County

“One of the biggest problems we’re having is with transportation. It’s a struggle just to find a driver who can leave with us at 2:30 p.m. And of course, gas prices are high. Imagine what driving a bus around the state for all sports does to a school’s financial budget. A lot of times our coaches are driving us long distances to the games. It’s one thing to drive down. It’s another thing to drive back after coaching for three hours, and you’re exhausted. When you’re on the road a lot and traveling long distances, kids lose academic time. I know the kids don’t mind that as much, but as educators we see the effects. When we get home, our kids are not driving on flat roads. We’re in the mountains, on curvy roads, very late at night and it’s getting colder. They’re in their cars at 1, 2 in the morning on country roads, trying to get to their house, and that’s not a good thing, either. When the coaches get in, we’re doing laundry, we’re in the film room, in the locker rooms until the wee hours of the morning, getting ready for Saturday afternoon and Sunday and preparing for the next opponent. It makes for long hours and that’s OK, but it’d be nice to be done before 3 a.m. on a Saturday.”

Jeff Herron, Camden County

“There’s no question that we’re about as isolated as you can get. Richmond Hill is the closest school in our region, and they’re an hour-and-a-half away. We went to (Region 1-7A opponent) Colquitt County Friday, and it took us three-and-a-half hours to get there. It’s a long night and a short weekend. I don’t have a solution, either. Some things you just have to deal with. We went to Marietta once, and it cost us $25,000 because you can’t drive to Atlanta on a Friday with that traffic. So we get charter buses and spend the night in a hotel. It’s a terrible expense that takes money from other sports. So this year we paid for schools to come to us. We had to negotiate a predetermined fee to get teams from Florida and Atlanta. It costs us money to do that, but not as much as driving to Atlanta. And in the playoffs, you can’t assume you’ll be the first or second seed and be at home. You want to be. But if you’re on the road, you can’t wait until the night before and find a hotel and restaurants for 175 or so people. You have to start looking for places in the Atlanta area, because if you’re a three or a four seed, you’re going that way. It’s a logistical nightmare to have to deal with.”