Point A to Point B
Posted on December 17, 2024 by Marketing and Communications
HOW MANY BUSES does it take to fly the 秘密研究所 football team to an away game? No, that鈥檚 not a trick question. The answer is eight or nine 鈥� not counting the semitrailer truck that hauls the equipment. If that sounds complicated, welcome to the world of South鈥檚 transportation wizards and puzzle masters. Even in this high-flying, high-tech age, the humble bus remains a key part of a complex, finely tuned and precisely coordinated collaboration between South鈥檚 transportation and athletics staffs that moves athletes from point A to point B.
Paula Wallace, the University鈥檚 transportation coordinator, explains the intricacies along with Tyese Pelt, manager of facilities services and former transportation campus supervisor. They sit at a table in a no-frills Transportation Services Building room dominated by color-coded whiteboards on three walls. The whiteboards 鈥� large versions of the continually updated spreadsheets on Wallace鈥檚 computer 鈥� track the transportation needs of all members of the Jaguar family.
Wallace compares the scheduling, deploying and tracking of buses to a chess match and, sometimes, to fruit-basket turnover. 鈥淏efore this, I directed weddings for 15 years,鈥� she says, 鈥渟o I鈥檓 used to it.鈥� For competitions less than eight hours鈥� drive away, South athletes travel by bus. When the football team flies to distant away games, buses at both ends of the journey take the players, coaches and others in the traveling party to and from the airports, and back and forth between the hotel, the game day walk-through practice field and the stadium.
The team鈥檚 charter airliner (athletes in other sports, which have much smaller traveling contingents, fly commercial) doesn鈥檛 have room for equipment managers and some other staff members. So they make the entire trip by bus.
Meanwhile, the equipment, including trainers鈥� and medical supplies, travels in a 53-foot
semitrailer emblazoned 鈥淪outh Alabama鈥� in linebacker-size letters. Depending on the
distance and time, that rolling billboard and the buses may need extra drivers. Federal
regulations allow bus drivers a 10-hour driving window before a mandatory eight-hour
break. For cargo drivers, it鈥檚 11 hours driving after 10 hours off.
What if trouble strikes, like a bus breakdown? You reach out to charter bus contacts, call in favors, do whatever it takes to meet the schedule. 鈥淲e have to have good customer service skills,鈥� Wallace says, 鈥渂ecause you鈥檝e got to be flexible, you鈥檝e got to have patience and you鈥檝e got to accept change.鈥�
South made national news in September by doing all of the above to help the New Mexico football team make it to its game at Auburn. Bad weather diverted the Lobos鈥� flight to Mobile instead of Montgomery. The team asked South for help.
Pelt, reached at a high school football game where her cheerleader daughter was in the homecoming court, rounded up four drivers on a Friday night and coordinated the logistics, all by phone. South鈥檚 four buses picked up the Lobos and headed north, handing them off to the team鈥檚 regular charter bus company at Atmore, Alabama. Jon Clark, South鈥檚 football chief of staff, even had the buses stocked with hot pizza.
Transporting South鈥檚 non football athletes is relatively straightforward. The women鈥檚 volleyball team, for example, travels to almost all away games by bus. A couple of times a year, the players carpool very early in the morning to the airport for a longer trip.
The team trainer checks three or four bags, says South alum and Assistant Coach Morgan Stalcup B.A. 鈥�20 (criminal justice), MPA 鈥�21 (public administration). One player checks the 鈥渢ech bag鈥� (projector for video study, radar gun for clocking serve speeds, computer equipment, etc.). Otherwise, Stalcup says, 鈥淭hey carry on everything.鈥�
With one exception, the same is true for other teams. Golf bags, baseball and softball bags, tennis bags, bags for javelins and shots (for the shot put) 鈥� they鈥檙e all basically just luggage. Even vaulting poles, which can be up to 17 and a half feet long, can ride as cargo in planes or buses.
Not so for football. 鈥淲e travel with trunks,鈥� says Mark Hewes B.A. 鈥�10, M.A. 鈥�18 (both in communication). 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like a rock band.鈥�
Hewes is assistant athletic director for equipment services. The trunks have wheels and are made of plywood in different sizes depending on what they store: helmets, cleats, jerseys, equipment repair tools, headsets and so on. What goes in where, and in what order, is all meticulously diagrammed.
Team equipment takes up 60% of the Jaguars鈥� semitrailer, which is usually found between games at the Football Field House loading dock 鈥� the one with the giant jaguar fang at each end. Gear for the team trainers and sports medicine personnel fills the other 40%.
Early on the week of a Saturday away game, Hewes says, 鈥淲e鈥檒l clean everything and replenish stock of anything that we used that previous game. Then, starting on Tuesday, the trainers will start loading all their stuff.鈥�
The trainers finish about 2 p.m. Wednesday. Then Hewes鈥� staff starts loading. After the team鈥檚 practice on Thursday, the staff adds the helmets, shoulder pads and other gear. By 5 that afternoon, the truck is ready to roll for an arrival at the team hotel no later than 9 o鈥檆lock Friday morning.
Growing up, Hewes says, he loved playing Tetris, the video game that involves perfectly
fitting together variously shaped pieces. Now, he鈥檚 doing the same thing, except with
the equipment trunks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a big game of Tetris on that truck.鈥�
Whether chess match or video game, the collaborative effort that gets teams to and
from games always has the same goal: contributing to a Jaguars win.
The Long Haul
Transporting football team equipment, trainers鈥� gear for away games:
TUESDAY
Trainers start loading truck.
WEDNESDAY
2 p.m.: Trainers finish; equipment staff starts loading.
THURSDAY
After practice: Player gear (helmets, pads) loaded by 5 p.m. Truck departs.
FRIDAY
By 9 a.m.: Truck reaches team hotel, unloads some gear, drives to stadium, finishes unloading.
SATURDAY
6 hours pre kickoff: Managers, trainers, video crew arrive at stadium. 2 hours pre kickoff: Players, coaches arrive. Postgame: Managers, trainers load gear; truck leaves for Mobile.