Macon Touchdown Club

Terry Harvin was appointed by the Learfield IMG College, the university’s athletics multimedia rightsholder, as the general manager for Georgia Southern Sports Properties in April 2021. He leads the day-to-day operations for locally based GA Southern Sports Properties and oversees the growth and development of the Eagles’ corporate partner platform and serves as the primary Learfield IMG College liaison with the Director of Athletics and the Athletics Administration. He has been the Eagles’ radio color analyst and Director of Development for the GA Southern Athletic Foundation/Atlanta Region. While a student, he was a GA Southern punter and four-year letterman. He has served the University as President of the GS Alumni Association, donor development for the Athletic Foundation as in a leadership role with the Eagle Football Alumni Association. Outside of his substantial ties to the Eagles, he is also the former senior vice president of sales and marketing for Kimco Services, LLC and vice president of business development for Macon Occupational Medicine.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Choice is a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference rushing champion, former NFL running back and the current Running Backs Coach at GA Tech. Before entering the coaching ranks, he enjoyed a six-year NFL career, playing 88 games with the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts. He totaled more than 2,000 yards as a pro (1579 rushing, 574 receiving and 89 on kick returns) and scored 10 touchdowns. Choice is one of the most decorated running backs in GA Tech history and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. He is a two-time member of the ACC academic honor roll and graduated from Tech in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in history, technology and society.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Drew Cronic was named the 20th head football coach in Mercer University history when he joined the Bears in December 2019. Prior to joining Mercer, he spent the previous two seasons as the head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina. Prior to that, he enriched the football programs at Furman University, Reinhardt University and James Madison University. He has been named AFCA Regional Coach of the Year for all four seasons and posted a 47-6 record in four years that he has been a head coach. He was twice named the Mid-South Conference West Division Coach of the Year and the AFCA NAIA Region I Coach of the Year. While a student at Georgia, he played wide receiver and was a member of the special teams. He lettered twice and participated in the 1995 Peach Bowl and the 1997 Outback Bowl. Cronic received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics education from UGA and his master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of West Georgia.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Beamer is a South Carolina native and USC’s 36th head football coach. He has been building programs all throughout his career, having been part of three coaching staffs where the head coach was in his first or second season at the school. He joined Lincoln Riley’s unit at Oklahoma in his second season, Kirby Smart’s program at Georgia in his first season and Sylvester Croom’s staff at Mississippi State in his first season. Beamer has been an assistant coach at seven Football Bowl Subdivision schools for 21 seasons, coached in 17 bowl games, posted 18 non-losing seasons (six of those with double-digit victories) and his teams have won 62.5 percent of its games. As a student-athlete, he was a member of five bowl teams and three Big East Conference championship squads on the Hokie football team as a long snapper and wide receiver. He was a long snapper on the 1999 Tech team that played for the BCS National Championship. Beamer is a graduate of Virginia Tech.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Tags: Uncategorized, Weekly Update by bryant
No Comments »

Jared Benko, from Watkinsville, Georgia, earned a bachelor of science in sports studies from Georgia in 2005 and then a master of public administration in Athens in 2007. He got his start in the athletic business field as an intern at Georgia from 2007 to 2008. He also spent seven years in sports communications at Georgia, including five years as a student and two years as a graduate assistant, while assisting with the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta Braves.

Jared Benko was hired in March of 2020 as the Athletic Director of the Georgia Southern Eagles and began his new role on April 1. Benko, who has more than a decade of progressive leadership experience in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), comes to Statesboro from Mississippi State where he served as Deputy Director of Athletics/Chief Financial Officer for nearly four years (2016-2020).

His first year was unprecedented in more ways than one as Benko had to navigate a college landscape altered by COVID-19. The Eagle football team was one of two FBS teams (Alabama) to play 13 games and just one of two (Texas State) to play all 12 regular season contests. The football season was capped by a win over Louisiana Tech in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Three Georgia Southern teams captured conference championships (rifle, women’s tennis, men’s golf).

*From gseagles.com

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Drew Butler is the son of Kevin Butler and attended Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee Georgia. He was an All-American punter for the University of Georgia under head Coach Mark Richt from 2007 to 2011. He led the nation in punting in 2009 and was a unanimous first team All American and winner of the Ray Guy award.

In 2012, Butler signed with the Pittsburg Steelers and punted 77 times for a 44 yard average. Butler played for the Pittsburg Steelers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and Arizona Cardinals.

He now runs his own consulting business, called 4^th Down Consulting and hosts two college football shows, the Punt & Pass Podcast and CampusLore Live. His career has always been focused on the intersection between media and sports, and his unique perspective will serve him well as Vice President , Collegiate at Icon Source as the major contender in the college space.*

*From Business Wire

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Chris Hatcher was named Samford’s 36th football coach in 2014 and has previously served as the head football coach at Valdosta State, Georgia Southern and Murray State University. This Macon native was also a quarterback/tight ends coach at the University of Central FL and worked with quarterbacks at the University of Kentucky. He was named into the Valdosta State University Athletic Hall of fame, Macon Sports Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Division II Hall of Fame as well as the GSC Hall of Fame. While a student at VSU, he was a two-time All-American quarterback and held 14 Valdosta State, 13 Gulf South Conference and 17 Division II national records. He received the Gulf South Conference’s Commissioner’s trophy twice, which is awarded to the league’s Most Outstanding Student-Athlete. He graduated from VSU with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Charlie Cobb enters his eighth year as the Director of Athletics. Under his lead, Turner Field has transformed from the former Major League Baseball venue to Center Parc Credit Union Stadium – the home of Georgia State Football. Many other major projects are on the books, including the completion of an “Athletics Neighborhood” which includes a new Convocation Center, baseball and softball stadiums, a soccer facility and a track and field venue. He oversaw the Bobby Jones Golf Practice Facility which opened in 2019. He currently serves on the NCAA DD1 Council and has been appointed to the College Football Playoff Management Committee. Cobb graduated from NC State where he was a four-year letter winner as a football player and graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He was awarded the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Jim Tatum Award which recognizes the senior football player with the highest GPA. Cobb also holds a master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »

Brian Bohannon boasts a sideline football coaching career that spans nearly twenty-five years as either an assistant or head coach. He joined Kennesaw State in March 2013 and turned Kennesaw State into the best five-year start-up program in college football history in 2019 with a 48-15 overall record, two Big South Conference championships, three straight appearances in the FCS Playoffs and four playoff victories. In addition to being a huge asset to Kennesaw State, he also has coached at GA Tech, Georgia Southern, Navy, West Georgia and at Gardner-Webb. Bohannon is a Griffin, Georgia native and four-year letter winner and standout wide receiver at UGA. He earned his bachelor’s degree in general business from UGA and a Master’s in Business Education from West Georgia.

Tags: Uncategorized by Charles Matson
No Comments »