The Georgia Southern Mistake

Paul Johnson took over the reins of the Georgia Southern offense in 1985. In his first two seasons in that capacity Southern went 26-4 and won back to back 1-AA championships. From 1987 through 1989 the Eagles went 36-7 and won another title under legendary coach Erk Russell. Tim Stowers took over as head coach in 1990. Under the constant direction of an option offense the Eagles 51-23 and captured yet another national championship. 

Paul Johnson took over as the head coach in 1997, after a one year hiccup by Frank Elwood that saw the Eagles go 4-7, Johnson quickly put the Eagles back on track. In five years Coach Johnson went an astonishing 62-10 and captured back to back national titles in 1999-2000. When Johnson left to take over at Navy in 2002, Mike Sewak took over the program, employing the same option attack that led the Eagles to now six national championships. In four years Sewak went 35-10 and was fired for “not winning enough”. 

In 2006 the Eagles chose to abandon the option offense and hired it’s first of two spread passing coaches. Brian VanGorder went 3-8 as head coach in 2006. After one year he was gone and Georgia Southern brought in Air Raider Chris Hatcher. He fared slightly better than VanGorder and compiled a record of 18-15, underwhelming compared to their previous success. In four years abandoning the option the Eagles totaled a pedestrian record of 21-23. 

Georgia Southern then returned to the Erk Russel/Paul Johnson tree of coaches in 2010 by hiring Jeff Monken. A return to the option game quickly made the Eagles a national title contender once again. In Monken’s first season the Eagles went 10-5 and made it to the national semi-finals. Two more consecutive semi-finals appearances, as well as a season ending win over Florida this year, saw Monken compile a four year mark of 38-16.

Now that Jeff Monken left to take the job at Army the Georgia Southern administration had another opportunity to hire a head coach. Among the capable candidates to take over for the departing Monken is Navy Offensive Coordinator Ivin Jasper. Yesterday however Georgia Southern made the decision to hire Willie Fritz from Sam Houston State. Coach Fritz has proven his mettle as a head coach going 31-9 with the Bearkats in the last three seasons. His “shotgun spread” offense however effective, is a similar attack to what most other teams in Division-1 football are running. How does it stand apart? It doesn’t, and it won’t. After six national titles and a resurrection of the program under Jeff Monken, the Eagles have once again turned their back on the formula that has proven to win in Statesboro. While I have nothing against Coach Fritz. I’ve never met the man, Georgia Southern fans out there do have to wonder though; how long will it be before they need to go back to an option coach to save the program?