Georgia Southern Eagles
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Georgia Southern Eagles are the athletic team(s) of
Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hine ...
(GS). The Eagles compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A) and are members of the
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...
. Prior to joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2014, the Eagles were members of the Trans America Athletic Conference (presently known as the
ASUN Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisio ...
) and the
Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...
(SoCon). During their time at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS/I-AA) level, the Eagles have won six national championships. The only Georgia Southern teams which compete outside the Sun Belt do so in sports that are not sponsored by that conference. Women's swimming & diving competes in the
Coastal Collegiate Sports Association The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association is an NCAA Division I college athletic conference. Established in 2008, the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) was originally developed by four regional Division I conferences — the ASU ...
. Rifle, a fully co-educational sport in which GS fields a women-only team, competes in the SoCon. Men's soccer will compete in the
Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...
starting in the fall 2021 season, following the demise of the Sun Belt men's soccer league.


Sports sponsored


Baseball

The baseball team is led by head coach Rodney Hennon, who is in his seventeenth year at Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern played its first year of baseball in 1933. The team went to the
College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...
in 1973 and 1990 and has appeared in 11 NCAA regionals. The team was also crowned the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...
National Champions in 1962, sweeping
Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...
. The team won the 2009 Southern Conference baseball tournament with a 7 to 3 victory over top seeded Elon and clinch its first SoCon title since 2002. They also won the 2011 SoCon Tournament after Chris Beck pitched a complete game shutout against Samford University. They lost two games against future national champion
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
, losing a 2–1 decision, and
NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...
, coming short by three runs in a 5–2 game.


Men's basketball

The head coach of the Georgia Southern men's basketball squad is Brian Burg. The team participated in the NCAA Division I Tournament in 1983, 1987 and 1992, and the NIT in 1988, 1989 and 2006. The first year of men's basketball at Georgia Southern was 1926, and the first year the school played in Division I was 1971. Georgia Southern basketball player Roger Moore was the first African-American athlete to receive a scholarship in the
University System of Georgia The University System of Georgia (USG) is the government agency that includes 26 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general ...
.


Football

The head coach of the Eagles is
Clay Helton Clay Charles Helton (born June 24, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach at Georgia Southern. He was previously the head coach of USC from 2015 to 2021. Helton has also been an assistan ...
. The Eagles have won six NCAA FCS (I-AA) National Championships (1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1999, and 2000). In addition, the Eagles have won ten Southern Conference championships (1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2011, and 2012) and one Sun Belt Conference championship (2014); with the Eagles' first Sun Belt title, they became only the third team, after
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
in 1992 and
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...
in 1997, to win their conference championship in their first year at the FBS level. Home football games are played at Allen E. Paulson Stadium, known as "The Prettiest Little Stadium in America." Georgia Southern fielded its first football team in 1910; however, the sport was suspended for World War II and was not restarted until 1982.


Erk Russell

In 1981, former University of Georgia Defensive Coordinator
Erk Russell Erskine "Erk" Russell (July 23, 1926 – September 8, 2006) was an American football, basketball, track and baseball player and coach. He was also the defensive coordinator for the Georgia Bulldogs for seventeen years (1964–1981) and head foo ...
was hired to restart the football program at Georgia Southern College (as the university was called at the time), a program that had not competed in forty years. Erk Russell became America's winningest coach, leading to the Eagles to three national championships. The Eagles extended Division I's longest home win streak from 26 to 37 games, gaining distinction as the only 15–0 college team of the twentieth century. Russell's final record at Georgia Southern, after his retirement in 1989, was 83–22–1 (.788). Erk Russell addressed the team the night before his shocking and sudden death on September 8, 2006. Georgia Southern University and thousands of friends, family, and fans gathered at
Paulson Stadium Allen E. Paulson Stadium is a 25,000-seat on-campus football stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. It is home to the Georgia Southern Eagles football team and the focal point of Erk Russell Athletic Park. Paulson Stadium was dedicated on September 29, ...
to mourn the passing of Erk Russell, one of America's most exciting and successful college football coaches. Since Russell's departure, football has continued to be prominent at Georgia Southern. Head coach
Tim Stowers Tim Stowers (born February 8, 1958) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at the Georgia Southern University from 1990 to 1995 and the University of Rhode Island from 2000 to 2007, compiling a care ...
succeeded Russell and won the 1990 national title, while Paul Johnson added two more in 1999 and 2000 with teams led by all-time Division I rushing leader
Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...
.


Beautiful Eagle Creek

In the early 1980s, a drainage ditch that the team had to cross several times a day during football practice came to be called Beautiful Eagle Creek by popular Head Football Coach Erk Russell. When the Eagles traveled to
Northern Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
during the 1985 playoffs, Coach Russell brought along a jug of Eagle Creek water to sprinkle on the field. The Eagles were victorious and went on to win many national championships with the help of that magical water. Today, the jug is on display at Georgia Southern University and signs have been erected along the creek.


The Hugo Bowl

In 1989, ESPN was to broadcast a ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...
'' game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the
Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are the men's and women's athletic teams at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. MT athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I (Bowl Subdivision in football) in Conference USA. MT com ...
. However,
Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...
, a category 4 hurricane, was headed straight towards the coast of Georgia. At the time of landfall, Hugo ranked as the eleventh most intense hurricane to strike U.S. this century, and it delivered the highest ever recorded storm surge on the East Coast. Nevertheless, the decision was made to continue with the game. For safety purposes, an open line was kept between the press box at Paulson Stadium and the National Hurricane Center in Florida. The Eagles went on to defeat MTSU by a score of 26–0 in a game known as the Hugo Bowl.


Traditions


Nickname

Eagles is the third nickname of Georgia Southern University. From 1924 to 1941, the nickname was the Blue Tide. After World War II, athletic teams were referred to as the Professors, as the school was a
teachers college A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...
. However, in 1959, when the school was renamed Georgia Southern College, a student vote was held to determine the new mascot. Eagles was chosen over Colonels by a narrow margin.


Plain uniforms

When the football program was revived in 1982, the school did not have a large budget and coach Erk Russell ordered solid blue helmets and asked the players to put a white strip of tape down the middle. The uniforms consisted of plain white pants and blue jerseys without names.Delma Eugene Presley, The Southern Century. Statesboro: Georgia Southern University, 2006. 230. With the subsequent success of the Eagles, the basic simple design of the uniforms has remained the same.


Notable alumni


References


External links

* {{Authority control