Georgia Southern’s football season of discontent ended Saturday the same way it began on Sept. 9 – with a loss to an opponent that would not have competed with previous Eagle teams. But except for the uniforms, the 2006 version of Georgia Southern football was not remotely similar to past teams. And nowhere was that more evident than in the ultimate judge of every GSU season: wins and losses. The 3-8 record was the worst since Erk Russell resurrected the program in 1982.
For newcomers to Georgia Southern football or non-sports fans, it’s difficult to fully explain how a successful college football team became so ingrained as a way of life in Statesboro. With the backing of Dale Lick, Bucky Wagner and a relative handful of true believers, Erk Russell built something from nothing into the most successful Division I-AA program in the nation.
As all fans know, the Eagles have the most national championships (six), playoff appearances (16) and tradition of any I-AA program. Frankly, no other program is in the same ballpark.
The tremendous tradition GSU football has established in 25 years truly is remarkable. Georgia Southern plays football fast, hard and clean. The program is a source of pride for the university, its graduates, the Statesboro community and, indeed, the whole state.
Football Saturdays at Paulson Stadium also are a significant and vital part of the area economy. The thousands of people who come to Statesboro on game days stay in area hotels, eat at restaurants, shop at the mall and other retail stores. The revenue put into our area economy over six or seven football weekends would not be there otherwise.
And while many Eagle fans are depressed today after such a disappointing season, all of the positives mentioned above aren’t going away after one bad season. Nonetheless, after a season that started with such hope inspired by the impressive resume of new head coach Brian VanGorder turned into 3-8, all aspects of what contributed to the disaster that was the 2006 season must be examined. Eagle fans and boosters everywhere deserve no less.
After athletic director Sam Baker decided last November to fire Mike Sewak in the aftermath of a stunning first-round playoff loss despite four winning seasons, we said in these pages Baker needed to hit a home run in finding his replacement. After he hired VanGorder, we said he hit a grand slam. Considering VanGorder’s was widely thought to be the top assistant coach in college football when he was defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia and was coming to GSU directly as the linebackers coach for the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, it was hard to conceive of a better coach Baker could find for Georgia Southern.
Eagle fans knew changes were coming on the field. During his introduction as head coach, VanGorder hinted the Eagles would no longer run the famed triple-option. That was confirmed when he neither retained nor hired any coaches who knew how to run the offense that was so feared by even I-A teams. Against VanGorder’s Georgia defense in 2004, the Eagles scored more points and rushed for more yards than other team the Bulldogs faced that year. While Eagle fans were hesitant about dropping the triple option, most deferred to VanGorder’s background in football.
During preseason Eagle Club meetings throughout the state, an enthusiastic and optimistic VanGorder spoke of the changes as necessary to move the program forward. Not once did he or anyone connected with the program mention rebuilding or lowering expectations of competing for the Southern Conference title and a I-AA playoff berth during the 2006 season.
Then there were the changes to some traditions. A fence with green netting was put up around the Beautiful Eagle Creek training facility and the yellow school buses used to transport players to Paulson Stadium for home games were discarded for newer buses. There were some other minor differences, but for many fans the only tradition that mattered was winning. Almost all Eagle fans figured that was one tradition that was indestructible.
Prior to playing the first game, however, the team and Eagle fans everywhere received two devastating blows. In July, Teddy Craft, one of the team’s most popular players and best receiver, died tragically in a motorcycle accident. Then on Sept. 8, the day before the season opener and the morning after he addressed the team, Erk Russell died of a stroke. It’s hard to know what affect, if any, those two events had on the team’s performance throughout the season.
The opening game against Central Connecticut State, whose coach said before the game was a team that had no chance of beating Georgia Southern, set a tone that would be repeated through much of the season – a decent first half followed by lackluster second halves and a resulting close loss. The Eagles lost six games by a combined 21 points.
While VanGorder pointed to the narrow losses as proof that the team wasn’t far away from being good, as a football coach he knows better. Close losses are part of football and teams that aren’t very good have a lot of them. Georgia Southern had a lot of them.
What was perhaps most distressing to Eagle fans was the lack of improvement during the season. Georgia Southern was still making the same silly mistakes at the end of the season as they did earlier in the season.
Sam Baker brought Brian VanGorder in to make Georgia Southern a better football team. In 2006, the Eagles scored 186 fewer points and gave up 33 more points than the 2005 team in the regular season. The 2005 team outscored opponents 175-79 in the second half of regular season games, while the 2006 team was outscored 142-83. And, most importantly, the 2005 team won eight games and qualified for the I-AA playoffs.
Even the most pessimistic of Eagle fans could not have imagined a 3-8 season. We know neither Baker nor VanGorder envisioned such a debacle. So, what went wrong? How did the Eagles sink so far so fast?
We believe Coach VanGorder needs to look in the mirror to start. As a college head coach, his record is 19-25. What worked as an assistant doesn’t always work as a head coach.
After The Citadel game, VanGorder said he didn’t think his players understood the importance of the game and weren’t ready to play. We don’t know of a more primary responsibility for a head coach than getting a team focused on the task in front of them. After the Furman game, VanGorder said they just don’t have players who can make plays. After his players gave everything they had on the field and suffered a tough loss, calling them out in public is no way to build confidence or earn trust.
Never did he say the poor execution of his offense wasn’t all on the shoulders of his players. Not once during the season did VanGorder say he needed to do a better job of coaching. That’s what good head coaches do. In public, they take it on the chin for their players.
VanGorder wasn’t brought to Georgia Southern to build a program or a winning tradition. Those foundations were in place long before he got here. He was brought here to compete for and win championships. Perhaps he was even brought here to oversee a transition to Division I-A. He wasn’t brought here to go 3-8.
After Saturday’s loss, VanGorder said: “I have a good feeling of where we are as a football team and a football program.” (We wonder if the captain of the Titanic was as optimistic after hitting the iceberg.) If VanGorder truly believes that, the Georgia Southern football program is in a lot of trouble.
VanGorder’s hiring clearly wasn’t the grand slam we thought it was a year ago. And after overseeing the worst season in GSU history, a dramatic improvement is a must next year.
For newcomers to Georgia Southern football or non-sports fans, it’s difficult to fully explain how a successful college football team became so ingrained as a way of life in Statesboro. With the backing of Dale Lick, Bucky Wagner and a relative handful of true believers, Erk Russell built something from nothing into the most successful Division I-AA program in the nation.
As all fans know, the Eagles have the most national championships (six), playoff appearances (16) and tradition of any I-AA program. Frankly, no other program is in the same ballpark.
The tremendous tradition GSU football has established in 25 years truly is remarkable. Georgia Southern plays football fast, hard and clean. The program is a source of pride for the university, its graduates, the Statesboro community and, indeed, the whole state.
Football Saturdays at Paulson Stadium also are a significant and vital part of the area economy. The thousands of people who come to Statesboro on game days stay in area hotels, eat at restaurants, shop at the mall and other retail stores. The revenue put into our area economy over six or seven football weekends would not be there otherwise.
And while many Eagle fans are depressed today after such a disappointing season, all of the positives mentioned above aren’t going away after one bad season. Nonetheless, after a season that started with such hope inspired by the impressive resume of new head coach Brian VanGorder turned into 3-8, all aspects of what contributed to the disaster that was the 2006 season must be examined. Eagle fans and boosters everywhere deserve no less.
After athletic director Sam Baker decided last November to fire Mike Sewak in the aftermath of a stunning first-round playoff loss despite four winning seasons, we said in these pages Baker needed to hit a home run in finding his replacement. After he hired VanGorder, we said he hit a grand slam. Considering VanGorder’s was widely thought to be the top assistant coach in college football when he was defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia and was coming to GSU directly as the linebackers coach for the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, it was hard to conceive of a better coach Baker could find for Georgia Southern.
Eagle fans knew changes were coming on the field. During his introduction as head coach, VanGorder hinted the Eagles would no longer run the famed triple-option. That was confirmed when he neither retained nor hired any coaches who knew how to run the offense that was so feared by even I-A teams. Against VanGorder’s Georgia defense in 2004, the Eagles scored more points and rushed for more yards than other team the Bulldogs faced that year. While Eagle fans were hesitant about dropping the triple option, most deferred to VanGorder’s background in football.
During preseason Eagle Club meetings throughout the state, an enthusiastic and optimistic VanGorder spoke of the changes as necessary to move the program forward. Not once did he or anyone connected with the program mention rebuilding or lowering expectations of competing for the Southern Conference title and a I-AA playoff berth during the 2006 season.
Then there were the changes to some traditions. A fence with green netting was put up around the Beautiful Eagle Creek training facility and the yellow school buses used to transport players to Paulson Stadium for home games were discarded for newer buses. There were some other minor differences, but for many fans the only tradition that mattered was winning. Almost all Eagle fans figured that was one tradition that was indestructible.
Prior to playing the first game, however, the team and Eagle fans everywhere received two devastating blows. In July, Teddy Craft, one of the team’s most popular players and best receiver, died tragically in a motorcycle accident. Then on Sept. 8, the day before the season opener and the morning after he addressed the team, Erk Russell died of a stroke. It’s hard to know what affect, if any, those two events had on the team’s performance throughout the season.
The opening game against Central Connecticut State, whose coach said before the game was a team that had no chance of beating Georgia Southern, set a tone that would be repeated through much of the season – a decent first half followed by lackluster second halves and a resulting close loss. The Eagles lost six games by a combined 21 points.
While VanGorder pointed to the narrow losses as proof that the team wasn’t far away from being good, as a football coach he knows better. Close losses are part of football and teams that aren’t very good have a lot of them. Georgia Southern had a lot of them.
What was perhaps most distressing to Eagle fans was the lack of improvement during the season. Georgia Southern was still making the same silly mistakes at the end of the season as they did earlier in the season.
Sam Baker brought Brian VanGorder in to make Georgia Southern a better football team. In 2006, the Eagles scored 186 fewer points and gave up 33 more points than the 2005 team in the regular season. The 2005 team outscored opponents 175-79 in the second half of regular season games, while the 2006 team was outscored 142-83. And, most importantly, the 2005 team won eight games and qualified for the I-AA playoffs.
Even the most pessimistic of Eagle fans could not have imagined a 3-8 season. We know neither Baker nor VanGorder envisioned such a debacle. So, what went wrong? How did the Eagles sink so far so fast?
We believe Coach VanGorder needs to look in the mirror to start. As a college head coach, his record is 19-25. What worked as an assistant doesn’t always work as a head coach.
After The Citadel game, VanGorder said he didn’t think his players understood the importance of the game and weren’t ready to play. We don’t know of a more primary responsibility for a head coach than getting a team focused on the task in front of them. After the Furman game, VanGorder said they just don’t have players who can make plays. After his players gave everything they had on the field and suffered a tough loss, calling them out in public is no way to build confidence or earn trust.
Never did he say the poor execution of his offense wasn’t all on the shoulders of his players. Not once during the season did VanGorder say he needed to do a better job of coaching. That’s what good head coaches do. In public, they take it on the chin for their players.
VanGorder wasn’t brought to Georgia Southern to build a program or a winning tradition. Those foundations were in place long before he got here. He was brought here to compete for and win championships. Perhaps he was even brought here to oversee a transition to Division I-A. He wasn’t brought here to go 3-8.
After Saturday’s loss, VanGorder said: “I have a good feeling of where we are as a football team and a football program.” (We wonder if the captain of the Titanic was as optimistic after hitting the iceberg.) If VanGorder truly believes that, the Georgia Southern football program is in a lot of trouble.
VanGorder’s hiring clearly wasn’t the grand slam we thought it was a year ago. And after overseeing the worst season in GSU history, a dramatic improvement is a must next year.