Not a bad article, but full of the usual New York Times journalistic license. Oak Grove High School is in Lamar County, which is part of the Hattiesburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (population 142,842 as of the 2012 census), and plays 6A ball, meaning it is one of Mississippi’s thirty-two largest high schools. I guess if you’re from New York this might seem like a rural area, but in the Gulf South we call this a city.
I have no idea where the writer found a radio station playing the blues, unless it was Public Radio in Mississippi’s weekly blues show or perhaps WUSM, broadcasting from the University of Southern Mississippi (enrollment 14,795 at the Hattiesburg campus, located only five miles from Oak Grove High School).
As for the “faint glow of a Dollar General sign in the distance” (see full article), the distance is approximate 100 yards, as Warrior Field is directly behind the strip shopping center where the Dollar General is located.
Don’t get me wrong, Brett coaching at OGHS is still a great story. His oldest daughter is an Oak Grove graduate, and he’s worked out/mentored the team for years, but it was still surprising that he agreed to accept the Offensive Coordinator position. It’s just amusing that the NYT thinks that making Hattiesburg sound like Mayberry improves the story.
About the same number of people who walk through Grand Central Station between 8:30 am and 8:45 am on an average work day.
LOL! Hattiesburg is a fairly large city, by Mississippi standards. It happens to be my hometown, and I'm a Southern Miss grad, as well!