Georgia State hiring Bill Curry as first coach

Georgia State hiring Bill Curry as first coach

Georgia State has reached for a high-profile name to start its football program.
The Panthers today will introduce former Georgia Tech coach Bill Curry as their first football coach, a school official confirmed. The search took GSU athletics director Mary McElroy less than two months to net Curry, who brings plenty of name recognition and high character to the job.

numerous calls from the AJC.
“They couldn’t have picked a finer gentleman,” said John Dewberry, now an Atlanta businessman who played quarterback for Curry. “He’ll be great for pulling together all the different factions for getting support to start the program, from the alumni to the faculty to the students.”
The move is comparable to the approach taken by Georgia Southern when it hired Erk Russell to start its program. Russell won a national championship in 1985, his fourth season, and won four before retiring in 1989.
“It’s a similar situation,” said Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, who played tight end for Curry. “If there’s anyone who can do it, it’s coach Curry. When he was at Tech there were a lot of those same elements there. It was an established program, but he did a lot to resurrect it.”

ajc.com
6/12/08