Georgia Southern Eagles football The Georgia Southern Eagles represent Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Southern Conference under head coach Jeff Monken . The Eagles have won an unprecedented six FCS ( I - AA ) national championships and nine Southern Conference 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 . History . Early years : 1924 – 1941 . 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 athletic director and would lead the football team for thirteen seasons . Football was suspended in 1941 at the outset of World War II and would not return for 41 years . Erk Russell era : 1981 – 1989 . In 1978 , president Dale Lick decided that football should be revived at Georgia Southern College . Despite a faculty senate vote against renewing the sport , President 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 current Southern Conference rival 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 twentieth century , winning the national championship on their home field vs . Stephen F . Austin . Soon after the game , Russell retired . Post Russell era : 1990 – 1996 . Tim Stowers was hired to replace Coach " Erk " Russell after Georgia Southern ' s 1989 ( 15 - 0 ) National Title . Stowers was the 1989 Offensive Coordinator , one of only two coordinators since 1900 to direct an offense with a team 15 - 0 record . However , Stowers was never able to live up to the expectations set by Russell and was fired in 1995 after a 9 - 4 record , ranked as one of top 8 teams in 1995 ( lost at Montana the eventual I - AA / FCS National Champion and beat # 1 ranked Troy State 11 - 0 on the road ) , by new AD Sam Baker who never saw Stowers coach a game . Stowers overall record of 51 - 23 ( . 689 ) vs . FCS / I - AA opponents . FBS / D - IA losses - Miami " Hurricanes " twice , Georgia " Bulldogs " , Auburn " Tigers " , and Bobby Bowden and Florida State " Seminoles " . Coach Stowers had a 6 - 2 playoff record and a 51 - 18 ( . 739 ) overall record vs . I - AA / FCS opponents and lower . Stowers won the 1990 I - AA National Championship ( 12 - 3 ) and was named AFCA Kodak National Coach of the Year . Stowers also won Georgia Southern ' s first ever Southern Conference Title in 1993 ( first year in league ) and was named 1993 Southern Conference Coach of the Year . He was replaced by interim coach Frank Ellwood for one year . The 1996 season was the first losing season in the modern era as the Eagles fell to 4 - 7 . Paul Johnson era : 1997 – 2001 . The next coach for the Eagles was Paul Johnson . Johnson found instant success taking the Eagles to the playoffs in his first season . He along with Eagle legend Adrian N . Peterson reached the 1998 national championship . However , the Eagles lost the game to UMass 55 - 43 in Chattanooga , Tennessee . The Eagles rebounded under Johnson and won back to back national championships in 1999 and 2000 . After the 2001 season , Johnson resigned to become the head coach of Navy . Post Johnson era : 2002 – 2009 . Johnson was succeeded by Mike Sewak . Despite winning the SoCon twice in his tenure , his lack of postseason success as well as a falling out with former head coach Erk Russell led to his firing after the 2005 season . Brian VanGorder , a former defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia , was hired to replace Sewak . In the first of many controversial moves , VanGorder scrapped Georgia Southern ' s famed triple option offense and did away with certain traditions such as the team ' s arrival on yellow school buses . Also , Erk Russell passed away unexpectedly on the Friday before the first game of the 2006 season ; Russell had addressed the team on the night before . VanGorder led the team to a 3 - 8 record , the worst in the modern era of Georgia Southern football . After his unsatisfactory one year as coach , VanGorder left to take a position with the Atlanta Falcons . Chris Hatcher , formerly the head coach at Valdosta State University , whom he led to the 2004 NCAA Division II Football Championship , was named the new head coach on January 19 , 2007 . Hatcher led the Eagles back to a winning record with a 7 - 4 finish , barely missing the playoffs . However , Hatcher could not replicate the success of his first season , going 11 - 11 in the following two seasons . Hatcher was dismissed after the conclusion of the 2009 season , the team ' s third modern era season with a losing record ( 5 - 6 ) . Jeff Monken and the return of the triple option : 2010 – present . On November 29 , 2009 , school officials announced that Jeff Monken , a longtime assistant coach under Paul Johnson , would become the next head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles . Monken ' s hiring signaled the return of the triple option offense which brought success to the program in years past . In Monken ' s first year , the Eagles finished the regular season with a 7 - 4 record and made their first playoff appearance since 2005 , advancing to the semifinals , where the Eagles fell to the Delaware Blue Hens 10 - 27 . During the 2011 season , Georgia Southern was ranked No . 1 in the FCS for the first time since the 2001 season . Additionally , Georgia Southern clinched the Southern Conference Football Championship for the first time since 2004 . < ref name = " SoCon Football Roundup 11 / 12 " > < / ref > The Eagles finished the 2011 regular season with a 9 - 2 record ; however , the Eagles were ousted in the semifinals for a second straight year by the eventual FCS champion North Dakota State Bison 7 - 35 . Possible move to the Football Bowl Subdivision . After years of rumors and fan speculation , Georgia Southern formally announced its intentions to move to the Football Bowl Subdivision level in April 2012 . The university plans to raise $ 36 . 6 million over 8 years to accommodate the move , primarily by expanding Paulson Stadium by constructing a football operations center in the eastern end of the stadium and adding 6 , 300 seats . Additionally , students voted in favor of raising student fees by $ 100 to accommodate the move . $ 25 of the fee increase will be used for the stadium expansion project while the $ 75 " FBS fee " will not be implemented until Georgia Southern receives a bid to move up to a FBS conference . On July 27 , 2012 then - Athletics Director Sam Baker resigned . Baker was an ardent supporter of remaining in the FCS despite university president Brooks Keel ' s proclamation , mainly due to the financial ramifications of moving to a higher level . On November 12 , 2012 , President Brooks Keel named Tom Kleinlein the athletic director of Georgia Southern University . Coaches . The current coach is Jeff Monken . Stadium . Georgia Southern home football games are played at Allen E . Paulson Stadium . Paulson Stadium was dedicated on September 29 , 1984 , and has an official seating capacity of 18 , 000 , although the hills leave room for about 5 , 000 + additional grass sitting spectators . The record attendance was in the 1989 I - AA National Championship game as Georgia Southern hosted Stephen F . Austin University , where the attendance reached 25 , 725 . Awards . The Eagles have won six NCAA FCS National Championships , the most by any team in the nation . Walter Payton Award . Georgia Southern is one of five schools to have multiple Walter Payton Award winners honoring the top offensive player in the Football Championships Subdivision . Running Back Adrian Peterson won the award in 1999 and quarterback Jayson Foster won it in 2007 . Eddie Robinson Award . Two Georgia Southern coaches have won the Eddie Robinson Award winners honoring the top coach in Division I - FCS . Erk Russell won it in 1989 and Paul Johnson in 1998 . Traditions . Nickname . The athletic teams of Georgia Southern University are referred to as the Eagles . However , the school has gone by a number of different nicknames . From as early as 1907 the athletic teams of the then First District A & M school were referred to as the Culture to reflect the agricultural background of the school . From 1924 to 1941 , the nickname was the Blue Tide . After World War II , athletic teams were referred to as the Professors reflecting the school ' s status as a teachers college . However , in 1959 when the school was renamed Georgia Southern College , a student vote was held to determine the new mascot ; among the 104 entries , voters chose Eagles over Colonels by a narrow margin . In 1997 , a contest was held to select the official name of the mascot , two incoming freshman Imen Edmond & Heidi Barber , won with the name GUS . Beautiful Eagle Creek . When Georgia Southern resurrected football in 1981 , it lacked tradition . A drainage ditch that the team had to cross several times a day during football practice came to be called Beautiful Eagle Creek by Coach Erk Russell . When the Eagles traveled to Northern Iowa during the 1985 playoffs , Coach Russell brought along a jug of this Eagle Creek water to sprinkle on the field . The Eagles were victorious and went on to win many national championships with the help of that magical water . The Hugo Bowl . In 1989 ESPN was to broadcast a Thursday Night Football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders . However , Hurricane Hugo , a category 4 storm , was headed straight towards the coast of Georgia . Hugo ranked as the eleventh most intense hurricane at time of landfall to strike the U . S . this century , with the highest ever recorded storm surge on the East Coast . Nevertheless , the decision was made to continue with the game . For safety purposes , an open line was kept between the press box at Paulson Stadium and the National Hurricane Center in Florida . The Eagles went on to defeat MTSU by a score of 26 - 0 in a classic that will forever be known in Eagle History as the Hugo Bowl . This was the first night game played at Paulson Stadium . Temporary lighting was used for the game because the stadium was not outfitted with permanent stadium lighting until the 1994 season . Many feared that the booms used to hoist the stadium lights would tip over due to the heavy wind . While it was expected initially to be a sellout crowd , due to the approaching storm the actual attendance was in the neighborhood of only 3 , 000 . Plain uniforms . When the program was revived in 1982 , the school did not have a large budget and coach Erk Russell ordered solid blue helmets and asked the players to put a white strip of tape down the middle . At the time of the restart of GSU Football the equipment budget was so limited that only practice pants could be purchased . Hence , players wore the same practice pants as game pants . A simple limited monetary approach which has become a nationally recognized tradition The uniforms consisted of plain white pants and blue jerseys without names . With the subsequent success of the Eagles , the basic simple design of the uniforms has remained the same . Sports Illustrated has ranked the uniforms as being the 3rd best in college football . One More Time ! This is the motto of Georgia Southern . It was coined by Coach Erk Russell after the team ' s 1986 National Championship when he said , " Hey ladies , hey fellas , hey gentlemen , hey everybody , one more time for the greatest team in America ! " The phrase ' one more time ' was forever immortalized and to this day is used often . Kickoff chant . Prior to every kickoff , it is expected all in attendance in unison yell " GO " and when the ball is kicked yell " Blue ! One more time ! " Yellow school buses . When the football team was started again in 1981 , money was tight . In fact , there wasn ' t enough money to furnish transportation . The Bulloch County school system sold two buses for a dollar each to the team . The buses have been used by the team ever since as transportation to the Allen E . Paulson Stadium . It has become a rich tradition and many gather before the game to watch the arrival of the yellow school buses . Little known to many outside of the program and still privy info , " The Valley Song " sang by the team en route to Paulson Stadium . " Erk " would always ride the first bus and soon after arrival he would often ask how the song was on the other bus , an indication of how prepared his team was to play . Freedom flight . As part of the pregame ceremonies , Georgia Southern ' s living mascot , Freedom , a Bald Eagle , makes a flight from the top of the press box down to the field . It has been described as " the most exciting 30 seconds of college football . " GEORGIA . . . ! SOUTHERN . . . ! This is the most well known chant of Georgia Southern . It starts by one person , or side of the crowd , yelling " GEORGIA ! " and the other side or person responding " SOUTHERN ! " WHOSE HOUSE . . . ? OUR HOUSE . . . ! This chant is done in the same fashion as the " Georgia . . . Southern . . . " chant . It used in the same way as the " Georgia . . . Southern . . . " chant to make the Allen E . Paulson Stadium the toughest venue the opposition has ever experienced . Black flag . In 2011 , Coach Monken ' s team took the field leading with a solid black flag . The flag symbolized their motto " No quarter given , no quarter taken . " During the game it was placed behind the bench . The flag was carried by safety Derek Heyden who suffered a career ending neck injury early in the season . Fight song . Listen to the Fight Song - Wave the blue , wave the white Hold the banner high The Eagles are on the wing . Sound a cry to the sky , As we look for glory . Victory now we sing . Hail the blue , hail the white Hail the team that ' s soaring Upward to bring us fame ; Georgia Southern Eagles Fight on to victory and Win this game ! Blue and white - fight , fight ! Blue and white - fight , fight ! Georgia Southern - Eagles ! Fight , fight , fight ! Hail Southern . A victory chant . " Hail Southern ! " ( Response ) " Hail Southern " " Hail Southern ! " ( Response ) " Hail Southern ! " " Hail Southern ! " ( Response ) " Hail Southern ! " " Hail ( The name of the defeated team ) ? " ( Response ) " Hell no ! " The phrase " Hail Southern " is also used as a greeting to a fellow Eagle .