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Head Coach Philip Ponder
Philip Ponder begins his fifth season as head coach and 11th season overall at Oglethorpe. When he was named head coach in March of 2003, he became one of youngest head coach’s in the school’s basketball history, and is currently the youngest head coach in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. His first four seasons have seen the Stormy Petrels making great progress towards becoming one of the top teams in the conference.
Having taken over a team that had finished last or next to last for four consecutive seasons, he immediately turned the Petrels fortunes around, leading the team all the way to the conference championship game in his first year at the helm. In his second season, the Petrels won their most games in six years and achieved their highest regular season conference finish in seven years. This past year, the Petrels finished with their most wins and best record in eight years.
He has introduced an exciting up-tempo style of basketball that has helped the Stormy Petrels lead the conference in scoring, three-pointers made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, turnover margin, assist to turnover ratio, steals, and turnovers forced, while breaking numerous school and conference records. The style of play is a style that players love to play. In the four year period that Ponder has been head coach, Oglethorpe has scored more points, made more three pointers, forced more turnovers, and recorded more steals than any team in the conference. The Petrels have also led the conference in free throws made and attempted each year of his tenure. This new, unique, and exciting style, as well as the renewed winning (31-18 at home in his tenure) has helped attendance almost triple since he took over.
Ponder has made it a point to try to make an impact on his players off the court as well. From his very first season, the team has been involved in giving back to the community. In the fall of 2003, the Stormy Petrels worked with the Chastain Horse Park riding program, which serves kids with cognitive, physical, and emotional disabilities. For the past four summers and the past three falls, the men’s basketball program has partnered with the Brookhaven Boy’s and Girl’s Club, giving free scholarships for the annual summer camp and volunteering hundreds of hours with the after school program. For their efforts, the men’s basketball team was awarded in October of 2006 the “Volunteer of the Year” award for the entire Metro Atlanta area, which covers over twenty-five counties. His emphasis on academics has seen the team members excel in the classroom as well. This past year, seven players were named Academic All-Conference for earning GPA’s of 3.25 or better. The seven men’s basketball players were the most for any athletic team at Oglethorpe last year, and the fourteen over the past two years is also tops for that span.
Ponder served as an assistant coach for eight years under five different head coaches at three different programs. Prior to coming to Oglethorpe, he was the assistant coach at Heritage High School in Conyers, GA. He was hired by former head coach and athletic director Jack Berkshire in the summer of 1997 as a graduate assistant. Upon Berkshire’s retirement, he was promoted to top assistant under new head coach Jim Owen, and held that position for five years. He played for and graduated from Reinhardt Junior College and LaGrange College. He received his master’s degree from Oglethorpe.
 Assistant Coach Ron Bell
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