CLEVELAND, Tenn. - About a year ago, Derek Potteiger revealed, his wife began to pray that God would lead their family to the Tennessee-Georgia area - "in his time."
That time is now. Potteiger was speaking Monday morning as the new men's soccer coach at Lee University, after four seasons of success at Gordon College in the Boston area.
The Potteigers, including four daughters ranging in age from 10 to 3, were formally introduced on their new campus, and Jennifer confirmed her husband's story.
"He says I'm a Southern belle in spirit, even though I've never lived in the South," she said. "And even though we loved Gordon and especially our team - we had 26 young men and I prayed for them like they were my sons - I didn't want to raise our girls in New England."
And that wasn't just because she's a Pittsburgh native and an avid Steelers fan. It had more to do with the harshness of the climate, from a weather standpoint and a "relational" standpoint.
She had passed through Georgia on the way to a mission trip once, she said, and long had been fascinated by what she saw then and always heard about Southern hospitality.
"So I began praying that God would send a calling to us to come to this part of the country, but I wanted it to be his will and in his time," she said.
Her husband emerged as one of 10 semifinalists and then one of three finalists from among more than 180 candidates, according to Lee president Dr. Paul Conn, in the national search to succeed Paul Furey, who resigned after the 2016 season.
Then Potteiger became the choice, as a four-time All-Big Ten selection and two-time All-American at Penn State who played professionally for seven years and then was the lead assistant for the Naval Academy program as it climbed from the "bottom 10" of NCAA Division I into the Top 25, as Conn pointed out. He followed that with a 61-18-3 record at Gordon, a small Division III school that won only six games the season before he arrived.
Growing up in a "classic 1980s American sports family" in Pennsylvania, Potteiger became enamored of soccer when his family spent a year in Zimbabwe.
Gordon is a Christian school and Potteiger long was aware of Lee, even though he had no personal knowledge of life south of Maryland.
"If you are in the world of Christian higher education, you know about Lee University and its reputation," said Potteiger, noting that he thinks the Flames have a "strong group" of returning players who can fit his style of up-tempo play.
He announced Monday that he is retaining Flames assistant coaches Kwame Appiah and Gabe Franco and said Lee would be "a principled team" that competes "with excellence, enthusiasm and energy" and "we will be entertaining."
Said Dr. Conn: "We think this is going to be the sweet spot in Derek's coaching career."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.