New Hartsville coach Kevin Creasy drives 106 miles round trip from his home in Murfreesboro every day.

The bad thing is that he only recently managed to sell his house in Hartsville to move to Murfreesboro where he was defensive coordinator for 5A power Riverdale.

However, many coaches have been there and done that — the double house payments, the long drives and the depleted hours of family time — and many will continue to do so, I’m sure.

Take Stan Eller, who just returned to Meigs County as the Tigers’ head coach. Eller never moved from Decatur when he left the team in the nineties, but chose to drive to first Soddy-Daisy, then Hixson and then Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe to work as an assistant coach.

He isn’t the only one. Tom Weathers drove daily from his home in Hixson to Trenton, Ga., when he was coaching at Dade County. Benny Monroe makes the daily drive down I-75 from Cleveland to coach at Ooltewah, and Mike Martin is now driving from Decatur, where he coached Meigs County, to East Ridge — a 45-minute drive on a good day, he says.

Maybe they should follow the lead of Notre Dame’s Charlie Wiggins, who lives a two-minute walk from the football field. Of course, Charlie still drives to school, but that’s a subject for another blog on coaches getting trim and fit, right?

It surely isn’t among the questions one is hearing these days. When you’re out and about if folks aren’t asking about the Vols, their first question is who’s going to be good this year.

Now that’s subject material for a long lunch at Wally’s.

After witnessing the jamboree at Finley Stadium on Friday and reading what cohorts had to say about the others, I figure you could answer a question with another: “They’re all batting a thousand right now, right?”

The only certainty is that Signal Mountain and Chattanooga Christian will play junior varsity schedules this year.

Here are some near certainties:

n Soddy-Daisy will be more exciting to watch, especially on offense with Scott Parrott running new coach E.K. Slaughter’s spread offense. Don’t believe that tripe about the Trojans plodding along. Slaughter has at least three receivers with some speed and hands, and the least-known of the three could have a breakout year. And don’t forget running back P.J. Hubbard, who came to Soddy-Daisy from Ooltewah via Tyner.

n Ooltewah’s Benny Monroe, who enters this year having coached 300 games, could enhance an already gaudy win percentage of .797. The Owls have skill players who might start elsewhere on the third team and a defense that will be awfully hard to handle. The big question is who’ll step into the offensive line if depth there becomes an issue.

n Boyd-Buchanan will be vastly improved. They’re big — 260-plus pounds per man along the offensive line — and have a smart and talented quarterback in Nick Hughes. The big problem and one of the few problems that has dogged coach Grant Reynolds is keeping all of the Buccaneers healthy.

n Unlike most Class 1A schools, South Pittsburg is poised to make a legitimate run at defending its 2007 state championship. Keep an eye on running back David Jones.

n I don’t care how much offense he graduated, Tim Daniels will keep Red Bank in the thick of the Region 4-4A race. I don’t see the Lions surrendering a run of four championships easily thanks to players like defensive tackle Miguel Sanchez and a newcomer, 6-2, 205-pound junior running back/linebacker Kion Williams.

n I’ve said this before, but watch out for Walker Valley. I wondered if second-year coach Ted Lockerby could turn it around this quickly, but the Mustangs I saw last week looked more like a 5A team with their size and speed than a 4-4A team picked to finish out of the playoff picture.

n And lest we forget Region 3-3A where everybody is picking McMinn Central, keep your eyes peeled for expected challengers Howard and Polk County, but also East Ridge. Even with first-year quarterbacks, the Pioneers have what it takes to challenge for both a playoff spot and the title.