When Andy McCollum recently left the North Carolina State football staff to become defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia Tech, Marietta fans probably assumed his son Drew, a promising freshman linebacker in football and catcher in baseball, would be suiting up for the Blue Devils next year. After all, McCollum had starred at quarterback for Marietta in mid-'70s, and his father, John McCollum Jr., had played for the Blue Devils in the early '50s and his grandfather John McCollum Sr., played in the mid-'20s.
But home is where the heart is, it is often said, and in this case it isn't McCollum's alma mater calling, but rather his family.
McCollum's father and mother and his sister and her family live in the Acworth-Kennesaw area, and AT has learned that's where McCollum and his wife Gwen and their two children, Drew and Andrea, will be settling into their next home.
In fact, while the family is in flux - his dad has taken temporary quarters in an apartment near Tech while his mom is wrapping up the sale of their house in Raleigh, N.C. - Drew McCollum is living with family friends and already is enrolled at Kennesaw Mountain High School and is playing for the Mustang junior varsity baseball team. At 5-foot-7, 207 pounds, he is said to be a rock-solid future prospect for the Mustang varsity, which has become a perennial state playoff contender.
BUT BACK TO THE MARIETTA TIE: Some Blue Devil fans probably assumed that McCollum may have played a role in the hiring last week of new football coach Scott Burton, whose coaching background is based solely in Richmond, Va., where he had been a successful high school coach and moved on to the University of Richmond as an assistant coach. Since they both were college coaches, some fans probably drew the parallel that their paths had crossed and McCollum may have put in a good word for Burton.
Not so. AT has learned that McCollum was backing a candidate for the Marietta job, but it was highly successful Dublin coach Roger Holmes, whose south Georgia-based Irish were state co-champions in 2006 and who have won 43 games over the past four seasons. Marietta officials did talk to Holmes, but AT has learned he was believed to be seeking incentives and perks that were too extravagant.
Meanwhile, McCollum's attention is focused on Tech, and his credentials say Jacket head coach Paul Johnson made a good hire. In 1994, when McCollum was defensive coordinator at Baylor, the Bears ranked fifth nationally in total defense. And national recruiting guru Max Emfinger has previously ranked McCollum as the fifth-best recruiting coach in the country.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE RECALL hearing against Cobb school board member Dr. John Crooks on Thursday, the attorney for those seeking his recall, Gary Bunch of Carrollton, seemed to be having difficulty pronouncing Crooks’ name — referring to him several times as “Dr. Crock.”
Visiting Judge Walter Matthews of Rome got so annoyed with Bunch’s mispronunciation that he at one point admonished him: “Let’s stop this right here. His name is ‘Crooks,’ not ‘Crock.’ That is a slur.”
Mispronouncing an opponent’s name in court is an old lawyers’ trick, to be sure. But as one wag put it Thursday, “I’m not sure how much difference there is between being called a ‘crook’ or a ‘crock.’”
The case stems from Crooks’ successful efforts last summer to sneak the highly controversial vote for a cell phone tower at Eastvalley Elementary onto the board’s agenda just minutes before the meeting, in clear violation of the state’s sunshine laws.
Dr. John Abraham, the board chairman at the time of the cell tower vote, testified on Crooks’ behalf during the hearing, although he didn’t exactly defend Crooks. In fact, when asked if he thought that placing an item on the agenda without telling the public was wrong and deceptive, Abraham answered that he would not have done it that way.
“I, personally, wouldn’t have done it that way,” Abraham said. “I think you should involve the community as much as possible, as an equal decision-maker.”
REP. DOUG COLLINS, the Gainesville Republican who has spearheaded the rewriting of Georgia law to outlaw consensual sex between teachers and high-school students, reports that with the session halfway over, House Bill 897 could come to a floor vote in the House very soon.
“I’m hoping it happens this coming week,” Collins said. If it passes, the bill would then go to the Senate and through the committee structure there. Collins said Sen. Bill Cowsert, an Athens Republican and one of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s floor leaders, has agreed to carry the legislation in the Senate, which is a good sign the bill will become law.
Collins’ bill aims to protect students through 12th grade, or age 19, to avoid entangling relationships between two adults in a college setting.
Last summer, the state Supreme Court ruled in a case out of Richmond County that the current law allows consent to be a defense when a teacher is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.
The law hit home in Cobb in December when Christopher King, a former teacher at Marietta High School, went on trial for his relationship with a 17-year-old student.
In a directed verdict, Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy III told King that his sexual relationship with the girl was “repugnant, gross, and very, very, very inappropriate ... but it ain’t illegal.”
But it appears in the future, such conduct will be.
SICK BAY: Cobb Superior Court Clerk Jay Stephenson, 63, is recuperating from hip surgery. He had both hips replaced 30 years ago and recovery took several months. Last year, he had one of those artificial hips replaced with the updated models, and was up and around in two weeks. So he apparently decided to have his other hip updated. … Cobb Dr. Felton Hagood is recovering from more back surgery.
ALTHOUGH WELL KNOWN BANKER and Cobb business leader Kessel Stelling was named president and COO of Columbus-based Synovus less than two weeks ago he is already on the job there, yet still plans to maintain his east Cobb residence and his ties to Cobb and surrounding counties. He tells AT that he is staying at the Columbus Marriott and commuting back here on the weekends until he and his wife, Carol, can find a permanent residence in Columbus.
In keeping with the well-known Synovus culture of servant leadership and community involvement, he says he is committed to being a part of the Columbus community but cannot give up his Cobb roots.
“It is a balancing act,” he told AT. “Cobb has been my home for 30 years and I owe so much of my success to the deep personal and business relationships that I have formed here.” He and his wife are active members of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and he says Carol would never give up her Bible study group, having been an eight-year participant in the Bible Study Fellowship at Roswell Street Baptist Church and a current member of the Amazing Collections Group at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.
Son Chris was married in October and is living in Buckhead and son Drew is set to graduate from UGA in May, where his dad graduated years earlier.
Stelling was chosen after a nationwide search for the No. 2 job at the $35 billion bank holding company that operates banks in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee with 6,800 employees and 350 offices.
Before his promotion, he was president and CEO of the Synovus-owned Bank of North Georgia, serving Cobb and the metro area. Synovus is the second largest Georgia headquartered bank behind SunTrust.
Stelling’s friends say they have no doubt he will succeed.
“Kessel has always been a master of balancing his successful banking career with family and community involvement,” said one.
Among many civic endeavors, Stelling has served as both president of the Cobb Chamber after Phil Sanders resigned in the early 1990s and later as chair. On top of that he recently ended a successful year as chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
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