Georgia Southern Eagles football
| Georgia Southern Eagles Football | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| First season | 1924 | ||
| Athletic director | Tom Kleinlein | ||
| Head coach |
Tyson Summers 2nd year, 5–7 (.417) |
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| Stadium | Paulson Stadium | ||
| Seating capacity | 25,000 | ||
| Field surface | Artificial turf | ||
| Location | Statesboro, Georgia | ||
| Conference | Sun Belt | ||
| Division | FBS | ||
| All-time record | 368–177–9 (.672) | ||
| Bowl record | 1–0–0 (1.000) | ||
| Claimed nat'l titles | Div. I FCS: 6 (1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1999, 2000) | ||
| Conference titles | 11 (10 Southern, 1 Sun Belt) | ||
| Consensus All-Americans | 65 | ||
| Colors | Blue and White |
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| Fight song | Eagle Fanfare Georgia Southern Fight Song |
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| Mascot | Freedom (live); GUS (costume) | ||
| Marching band | Southern Pride Marching Band | ||
| Outfitter | Adidas | ||
| Rivals |
Appalachian State Mountaineers Georgia State Panthers |
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| Website | GSEagles.com | ||
The Georgia Southern Eagles represent Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Sun Belt Conference under head coach Tyson Summers. The Eagles have won six FCS (I-AA) national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners. The Eagles first continuously fielded a football team in 1924; however, play was suspended for World War II and revived in 1981. The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 until 1991 as the Eagles' main conference at the time, the Trans America Athletic Conference (now known as the Atlantic Sun Conference), did not sponsor football, and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1992 until 2013, winning 10 SoCon championships. Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014. The Eagles won the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member.
As First District A&M, the school began organizing football teams as early as 1909. However, the college first continuously fielded a team in 1924. In 1929, B.L. "Crook" Smith, a sports standout from Mercer University, was hired as football coach and athletics director and would lead the football team for 13 seasons. Football was suspended in 1941 at the outset of World War II and would not return for 41 years.
In 1978, President Dale Lick decided that football should be revived at Georgia Southern College. Despite a faculty senate vote against renewing the sport, Lick worked to generate support for the endeavor. In 1982, the school hired Erk Russell, the popular and charismatic defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia, to coach the new football team. On the hire, humorist Lewis Grizzard said, "When they landed Erk Russell, they got themselves a franchise." The Eagles fielded a club team in 1982 and 1983 and began official NCAA Division I-AA play in 1984. The next year, the Eagles would win their first Division I-AA national championship in Tacoma, Washington, defeating Furman University, in only the team's fourth year in existence, second as a varsity team. The Eagles would return to Tacoma the next year and win the championship vs. Arkansas State. In 1989, the Eagles became the first college team to go 15–0 in the 20th century, winning the national championship on their home field vs. Stephen F. Austin. Soon after the game, Russell retired.
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