Schedule For Monday, September 17, 2018
On Monday night, September 17th, the Macon Touchdown Club will welcome Coach Chad Lunsford from Georgia Southern as our feature speaker.
The 2018 campaign marks the 10th season overall, and sixth in his current stint at Georgia Southern for Chad Lunsford, who has worn many hats in his time in Statesboro. Lunsford was promoted from assistant head coach to interim head coach on Oct. 22, 2017. He was named the 10th full-time head coach in the modern era on Nov. 27, 2017. He enters his first full season as the head coach of the Eagles with a 2-4 record after winning two of the final three games of the 2017 season.
After working with the wide receivers in 2013, Lunsford worked two seasons with the tight ends and served as recruiting coordinator in 2014 and 2015. As he has since 2014, Lunsford will continue to coach the Eagle tight ends and will once again serve in the role of special teams coordinator, a title he added in 2016. He was also named the program’s assistant head coach in 2017.
Over the past three seasons, his tight ends contributed to the option ground game which led the FBS in rushing yards per game in both 2014 and 2015 and also led the FBS in rushing touchdowns in 2015. In 2016, Lunsford was named a Broyles Award nominee, given to the nation’s top assistant coach, as the Eagles blocked seven kicks and featured a Lou Groza Award finalist in Younghoe Koo.
On the recruiting side, Lunsford helped engineer signing classes which featured 22 players and ranked in the top half of the Sun Belt in 2015, also ranked near the top of the Sun Belt in 2014 and in 2016.
Georgia Southern’s wide receivers in 2013 led NCAA Division I with most yards per completion, averaging 19.3 yards per catch. Fourteen catches ranked among Georgia Southern’s big plays as the Eagle receiving corps contributed to one of the nation’s top offenses.
Lunsford returned to Statesboro as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in June 2013 after four years in an administrative position with the Auburn football program. He served in consecutive roles as the Tigers’ Director of Scouting and Director of Player Personnel, assisting with the day-to-day operations of Auburn football, with an emphasis on recruiting, organizing and prospect evaluation.
Credited with making advancements in technology and introducing new concepts to help the Tigers win recruiting wars, Lunsford assisted with and organized numerous other aspects of Auburn’s recruiting process. The Tigers boasted three of the nation’s top recruiting classes in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and that success translated to the field where Auburn claimed the 2010 BCS national championship, 2010 Southeastern Conference Championship and made appearances in two other bowl games.
Lunsford coached the slotbacks in his previous three seasons (2003-05) on the Georgia Southern staff, including the Eagles’ eventual all-time receptions leader Raja Andrews, who finished his career with 127 catches and as the record holder for receiving yards in a single season with 873. Armed with the ability to run and deliver blocks as well as catch passes in the option offense, his slotbacks provided physical and statistical support to three-straight NCAA Division I rushing titles to go along with a Southern Conference championship in 2004.
After departing Georgia Southern in 2006, Lunsford spent a year at Griffin High School as a special education teacher and served as the outside linebackers coach. The Bears posted an overall record of 11-2 that season for a winning percentage of .917, highest in the program history to that point, and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs.
Two years back at Georgia Military College followed his time at Griffin with Lunsford taking a familiar place as linebackers coach and adding responsibilities as special teams coordinator.
Lunsford played at Elbert County High School for legendary coach T. McFerrin, Lunsford was a two-way starter at linebacker and center for the Blue Devils. During his high school career, Elbert County made four-straight appearances in the state playoffs and posted a 20-3 record in his junior and senior years.
Lunsford graduated from Georgia College in May 2000 with a degree in biology and minor in mathematics, and earned a Master’s of Sport Science degree from the United States Sports Academy in 2002.
While at Georgia College as an undergraduate, he served as a student assistant with Georgia Military College, beginning his career coaching the tight ends. In February 1997, he was hired as the running backs coach and handled several of the program’s administrative areas. The Bulldogs would play in three straight Golden Isles bowl games, capture the 1998 National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) rushing title with an average of more than 300 yards per game, and bring home the 1999 Golden Isles bowl championship.
Lunsford moved to the defensive side of the ball for the 2000 season and his coaching efforts helped GMC rank second nationally in total defense that year. An opportunity to coach on the offense again prompted him to accept an assistant coaching position at Appalachian State where he would coach the tight ends for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
Married to the former Tiffany “Tippy” Hyde of Macon in 2002, the Lunsfords have three children, Sophie, Rhett and Josie.
As always, we will meet at The Methodist Home For Children, in The Rumford Center. The address is 304 Pierce Avenue, and the meeting begins at 6:30 pm.
Guest Fee is $30.00, and includes dinner, club activities, recognition of local high school athletes, recognition of a local high school and the speaker.
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