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The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:02 pm
by bobbythekidd
One of our divisions most storied and admired coaches will not be included in the College Football Hall of Fame. The rules dictate that an inductee must have been a head coach for a minumum of 10 years and won at least 100 games.
It is the opinion of many that a special case needs to be made for Erk Russell. Coach Russell restarted a program that was dormant for 40+ years. He restated it with 135 of the most enthusiastic non-athletes you ever saw. This humble man came from the University of Georgia after 17 years as one of the best defencive coordinators in the country; a place with bottomless pockets to restart a football program at a college in a cow pasture.
The Eagles played club football for a couple of years and entered 1-AA competition in 1984. A year later, Coach Russell had Georgia Southern celebrating a national championship. Erk led’m to 3 titles in six seasons and the Eagles won an amazing 82% of the time. Hall of Fame stuff.
He said things like, "When I came here I wasn't a very good asker, but after a while, I became a pretty good beggar." and "In the interest of economy, we had plain white pants; we had plain navy-blue shirts, a number on the front and a number on the back. We couldn't even put a stripe down the middle of our helmets. We used a strip of tape. ... Those kind of things screamed TEAM!"
I don't know who to contact, but if you are so inclined to help, their is a facebook page and plenty of local support to get this train rolling. Please do what you can.
http://www.680thefan.com/viewArticle.aspx?aid=19
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:07 pm
by dbackjon
Agreed - artificial rules like that are stupid. Clearly, a HOF'er
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:14 pm
by Appaholic
Agreed....Erk was a heluva man and heluva coach....almost as good as Coach Moore....
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:18 pm
by dbackjon
Appaholic wrote:Agreed....Erk was a heluva man and heluva coach....almost as good as Coach Moore....
Who, since he has coached for more than 10 years and 100 games, will get into the HOF.
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:24 pm
by bobbythekidd
Coach Moore will eventually get in based on what he has accomplished. Unfortunately, Coach Russell will not get a passing glance despite what all he had done.
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:27 pm
by Appaholic
bobbythekidd wrote:Coach Moore will eventually get in based on what he has accomplished. Unfortunately, Coach Russell will not get a passing glance despite what all he had done.
That's BS.....and diminishes the HOF when arbitrary rules keep deserving people out for no other reason than some dikhead decided 10 yrs was the limit....
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 7:53 pm
by Grizo406
IMO, this is the face, body, mind, and SPIRIT of what I-AA football is all about...
Erk deserves to be in the Hall of Fame!!!
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:08 pm
by Mountaineer
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 6:36 am
by Appaholic
Grizo406 wrote:IMO, this is the face, body, mind, and SPIRIT of what I-AA football is all about...
Erk deserves to be in the Hall of Fame!!!
Agree...there is not a better representative for our classification.....tough SOB.....
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 7:49 am
by Cap'n Cat
Good guy. I'm certain an exception will be made for him someday.
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 7:57 am
by JMU DJ
Damn Good Dawg... and a Damn Good Eagle too. Took his Junkyard Dogs to a National Title and GSU to 3 National Titles. Erk accomplished more in his short time at GSU than most coaches will over their entire career... I agree with Buck, if they don't let him in they should just close the doors to the place.
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:16 pm
by bobbythekidd
Say what you want about Dave Coulson but he gives Erk good write up here...
But even with this impressive group, it is important to note that one of the most successful coaches in FCS - Georgia Southern icon Erk Russell - hasn't been invited.
Unless the rules are changed, or he gains consideration from the NFF's veteran's committee, Russell may never be inducted. One of just three FCS coaches to win a trio of NCAA championships, along with Appalachian State's Jerry Moore and Jim Tressel of Youngstown State (who has four titles), Russell isn't currently eligible because coaches must head programs for a minimum of 10 years with at least 100 wins.
Russell, previously a highly-decorated assistant coach at the University of Georgia, won his three national crowns in just eight years, with an overall 83-22-1 record as he started the Eagles' program from scratch. If anyone deserves to be a Hall of Famer, it is Erk.
As a member of the Football Writers of America, I actually have a vote in the Hall of Fame election. NFF members also are among the voters.
But my membership has enabled me to see how the NFF treats FCS, Division II and III and NAIA as after-thoughts in the election process. The voluminous FBS ballot has pages of names, complete with brief biographies of all 76 players and six coaches.
There is a totally separate ballot for FCS players and coaches, who are lumped in with the Division II, III and NAIA athletes and coaches. The list I received did not include any biographical information of any of the 36 players listed as FCS, or the 61 other athletes. The same goes for the 29 coaches who were nominated.
Voters are asked to vote for two players and two coaches from each of these five categories.
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... id=4231837
Re: The GSU faithful need your help!!
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:28 am
by bobbythekidd
Yesterday afternoon, I told you I wouldn’t be posting anything new until today and that an explanation would be forthcoming. Your patience is, of course, appreciated. This is what occupied my time on Tuesday:
Last spring, I joined the National Football Foundation so that I could nominate Erk Russell for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Last summer, I verified the eligibility criteria with the Foundation’s director of special projects.
While I have been silent upon the subject publicly in the months since, I have been working behind the scenes in pursuit of what everyone agrees is a worthwhile objective. Because one of the groomsmen in my wedding a dozen years ago is now a professor at Georgia Southern University, I had an avenue by which to reach out to the proper people in Statesboro, and their graciousness and willingness to lend whatever aid they could have only confirmed for me the correctness of the universal estimation of Coach Russell as a great coach and a better man.
Many people have provided assistance, support, and information, including Ric Mandes, the co-author of Coach Russell’s autobiography, Erk: Football, Fans & Friends (of which I received a copy as a gift from The Blogger Who Came In From The Cold following the birth of my daughter, Elizabeth Rose King, whose monogrammed sweaters one day will spell out the nickname of my favorite defensive coordinator). I spent yesterday afternoon and evening compiling the paperwork for Coach Russell’s nomination, and, when I wrote to Coach Russell’s son, Jay Russell, to confirm his contact information as the nominee’s next of kin, he was nice enough to send a very kind response.
The nomination deadline is this Friday, December 11. The package containing the requisite forms and documentation was sent out via overnight mail this morning, accompanied by the following cover letter:
Click the link to read the nomination letter. It's kinda long but worth a read.
http://www.dawgsports.com/2009/12/9/119 ... inated-for
