The Georgia Southern Eagles football program represents Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Sun Belt Conference. The current head coach is Clay Helton. The Eagles have won six FCS (I-AA) national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners. Georgia Southern first continuously fielded a football team in 1924, but play was suspended for World War II and did not return until 1981. The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 to 1992 and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1993 to 2013, winning 10 SoCon championships. In 2014, Georgia Southern moved to the FBS level and joined the Sun Belt Conference, winning the conference championship outright in its first year. Georgia Southern's main Sun Belt rivals are Appalachian State and Georgia State.
Scott Andrew Frost is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2018 to 2022. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football as a quarterback for the Stanford Cardinal and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the latter of which he led to a shared national championship in 1997. He played six years in the NFL, mostly on special teams.
Robert Damien DeBesse aka uncle Bob is an American football coach. He was most recently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles. He was relieved of his duties by Head Coach Chad Lunsford during the 2020 season.
The Georgia State Panthers football team is the college football program for Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. The Panthers football team was founded in 2010 and competes at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The team is a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The Panthers currently play at Center Parc Stadium, about ten minutes from GSU's downtown campus.
Aaron Kelton is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia, a position he has held since 2022. Kelton served as the head football coach at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts from 2010 to 2015 and Shorter University in Rome, Georgia from 2016 to 2017. He was also the interim head football coach at Howard University in Washington, D.C. for the final three games of the 2019 season.
Chad Allen Morris is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University of Arkansas from 2018 to 2019.
Clay Charles Helton 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 assistant coach for Duke, Houston and Memphis. His father, Kim Helton, was a coach in college, the National Football League, and the Canadian Football League; his brother, Tyson Helton, is also a collegiate head coach.
Donald Brent Key is an American college football coach and former player. Key is the head football coach at his alma mater, Georgia Tech.
Tyson Summers is an American college football coach. He is the defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky University, a position he had held since 2022. He previously served as an analyst at the University of Florida. Prior to that, Summers served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder. Summers was the head football coach at Georgia Southern University from 2016 to 2017.
William Geoffrey Collins is an American football coach and former player. He is currently serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to the Tar Heels, he was the head coach at Georgia Tech from December 7, 2018, to September 25, 2022. He was previously the head coach at Temple University, and had served in the past as defensive coordinator for the University of Florida and Mississippi State University.
The 2017 Georgia Southern Eagles football team represented Georgia Southern University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Eagles played their home games at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia, and competed in the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by coach Chad Lunsford following the mid-season firing of second-year head coach Tyson Summers. They finished the season 2–10, 2–6 in Sun Belt play to finish in a tie for tenth place.
Greg Knox is an American college football coach. He is the Interim Head Coach at Mississippi State University. Knox served as interim head football coach at Mississippi State for the final game of the 2017 and at the University of Florida for the final two games in 2021. From 2009 to 2021, he was Dan Mullen's running backs coach, first at Mississippi State and then at Florida.
The 2021 Georgia Southern Eagles football team represented Georgia Southern University during the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Eagles played their home games at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia, and competed in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by third-year head coach Chad Lunsford until he was dismissed mid-season following his third consecutive loss within the first four games of the season. Cornerbacks coach Kevin Whitley was tapped to serve as interim coach until a new head coach was hired by the university. Whitley was in his third year as cornerbacks coach and previously played for Georgia Southern as a four year starter from 1988 to 1991, helping to win two national titles for the Eagles. On November 2, 2021, Clay Helton, former head coach of the USC Trojans, was hired to become the next head coach for Georgia Southern, starting in the 2022 season.
The 2021 Sun Belt Conference football season was the 21st season of college football play for the Sun Belt Conference. The season began September 2, 2021 and concluded with its championship game on December 4, 2021. It was part of the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Sun Belt Conference consists of 10 football members split into two divisions. The conference released its schedule on March 1, 2021.
Donte Antonio Williams is an American football coach who is the defensive backs coach at the University of Georgia. He previously served as USC's associate head coach under Clay Helton, and he became USC's interim head coach on September 13, 2021, after Helton was fired. After leading the Trojans for the final 10 games of the 2021 season, Williams remained at the school on the staff of new head coach Lincoln Riley. A coach with stints at Oregon, Nebraska, Arizona, and San Jose State, Williams has established himself as one of the nation's top college football recruiters.
Kevin Whitley is an American football coach and former cornerback who is a head football coach at Northgate High School. Previously, he assumed the role of interim head coach and cornerbacks coach at Georgia Southern, and is longtime high school coach in Georgia. Whitley also played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Toronto Argonauts for three seasons.
The 2022 Sun Belt Conference football season is the 22nd season of college football play for the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The season began on September 2, 2022, and will conclude with its conference championship game on December 3, 2022. It is part of the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The conference expanded to 14 football members for the 2022 season with the addition of 4 new member schools. The 14 members were divided into two divisions for play. The conference released its schedule on March 1, 2022.
