Erk Russell

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Erk Russell

Title defensive coordinator/Head Coach
College University of Georgia/Georgia Southern University
Sport Football
Born July 23, 1926
Place of birth Birmingham, Alabama
Died September 8, 2006
Career Highlights
Championships
Division I-A Championship (1980)
Division I-AA Championships (1985, 1986 and 1989)
Awards
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Coach-of-the-Year for 1984-1986;

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame 1987;

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1991;

USA Today's Georgia Coach-of-the-Year;

Coach-of-the-Decade 1989;

1989 Chevrolet-CBS Sports I-AA Coach-of-the-Year 1989
Coaching positions
1964-1981
1981-1989		 University of Georgia
Georgia Southern (I-AA)

Erskine "Erk" Russell (July 23, 1926 in Birmingham, Alabama - September 8, 2006 in Statesboro, Georgia) was the defensive coordinator for the Georgia Bulldogs for seventeen years (1964-1981) and head football coach (seasons 1981-1989) of the Georgia Southern Eagles. He graduated from Auburn University in Alabama where he earned ten varsity letters. He was the last four-sport letterman in the college's history.

Russell revitalized the Georgia Southern Eagles football team during his tenure, bringing them to three NCAA Division I-AA championships. Under his guidance the Georgia Southern Eagles became the first 15-0 of the 20th Century. His motto was "Just one more time."

Erk Russell was the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Coach-of-the-Year for 1984-1986; was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1987; inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1991; became USA Today's Georgia Coach-of-the-Year and Coach-of-the-Decade for 1989; In 1989 he also became the Chevrolet-CBS Sports I-AA Coach-of-the-Year; and in 1996 he was the Olympic Torch Bearer for the Atlanta Games.

Russell died on September 8, 2006 following a stroke, aged 80.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] The Junkyard Dawgs

After talking with a fan, Jimmy Matthews, Erk decided to use the phrase “Junkyard Dawgs” as motivation for his defense after an uncharacteristically poor season in 1974. After Erk received Vince Dooley's okay, Russell called Roger Dancz, the director of Georgia's Redcoat Marching Band, and suggested that if the Bulldogs ever did something good on the field, how about cranking up a few bars of Jim Croce's "Bad, bad Leroy Brown."

From the American Football Coaches Association's Defensive Football Strategies, the chapter penned by Erk defines the Junkyard Dawgs, "By our own definition, a Junkyard Dog is a dog completely dedicated to his task, that of defending his goal line. Further, he is very often a reject (from the offense) or the runt of the litter. Nobody wants him, and he is hungry. We had three walk-ons, four QBs, and three running backs in our original Junkyard Dog starting cast, which averaged 208 pounds across the front. In short, a Junkyard Dog is one who must stretch and strain all of his potential just to survive. Then he can think about being good."

Georgia went 9-3 in 1975 and brought home the third SEC title for Dooley in 1976.

During the 17 years that Erk served as Georgia Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, the 'Dawgs played 192 games and held the opposition to 17 or fewer points in 135 of them. In 74 of those contests, the defense kept the other team's scoring in the single digits, including 27 shutouts. Coach Russell's Georgia defenses allowed more than 28 points just 18 times in 17 seasons.

The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, even recorded "Dooley's Junkyard Dawgs", and belted out the tune in Sanford Stadium.

[edit] Player Communication

Russell was notorious for his communication and motivational nature among his players. He was known for sending out calendars to his players over the summer, reminding them to be in shape for the start of practice and suggesting a humorous workout regimen that would include entries such as: "Run three miles, hate Georgia Tech four times."

He also came up with all sorts of folksy sayings that somehow seemed to work on the younger generation. Russell was the one who coined the phrase "Junkyard Dawgs" for Georgia's undersized defense. He came up with T-shirts that had "TEAM" printed in large letters and "me" in small letters. And he always told his players, "If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."

During a road game at historic Grant Field, Coach Russell saw a Yellow Jacket trainer in a sweatshirt reading "G.T.A.A."---"Georgia Tech Athletic Association"---and came up with the idea of rearranging the letters to produce what is perhaps the sport's most memorable slogan: "G.A.T.A."---"Get After Their Asses" (or the politically correct "Get After Them Aggressively")

Perhaps the most lasting impression was Russell ramming his bald dome into a helmeted player to celebrate a turnover or key play, leaving his forehead drenched in blood. But people came to understand that the cornball antics obscured a keen football mind.

Coach Russell was a master motivator who did not forget that, as someone who molded young men in a university setting, he was a teacher first and foremost. He passed along life lessons, and not just defensive techniques, to his players and he knew how to get his message across to them.

While Coach Dooley was still contemplating the dismissal of several Bulldogs after the infamous hog incident of 1980, Coach Russell was the one who saw how it could be used to bring the team together. When Len Bias died of an overdose in 1986 at Georgia Southern, Coach Russell conveyed the dangers of drug use by throwing a rattlesnake on the floor in a team meeting to make sure his analogy would be remembered.

[edit] The Letter

Russell was the inspiration for the Georgia defense that helped the Bulldogs capture the national title in 1980 with a perfect 12-0 record and the first of three straight SEC titles.

That year, Erk sent this letter to his squad before the first game:

"Gentlemen,

The football season of 80' will be my seventeenth as a Georgia Bulldog. During this time there have been many thrilling Saturdays of competition, each with its individual memories, because each game has its own personality. There are two Saturday traditions and experiences which have remained basically the same throughout the years for me and I would like to share them with you.

The first one concerns the RAILROAD TRACK CROWD. These are my people because they love the Dogs almost as much as I do. Oh, I know they do some crazy things- like turn over our opponents's buses sometimes and now and then they throw one another down the bank and into the street below. But they stamp out Kudzu and they pull for us to win and that aint bad. If you can get off the bus to cheers of THE RAILROAD TRACK CROWD and walk down those steps to the dressing room and not be inspired to play football as best you possibly can, something important is missing beneath the Georgia jersey you wear. It is impossible not to be inspired. They choke me up! The season of 1980 will be the last for THE RAILROAD TRACK CROWD. A great Georgia tradition will have passed with the new addition to our stadium. The view from the tracks will be no more. Your team will be the last Georgia Team to be greeted and cheered by the RAILROAD TRACK CROWD. Wouldn't it be fitting if their last team was also the best Georgia Team ever. Think about it!

Another Saturday tradition which has meant so much to me over the years can be stated very simply. "THERE AIN'T NOTHING LIKE BEING A BULLDOG ON SATURDAY NIGHT-----AFTER WINNING A FOOTBALL GAME." I mean like whipping Tennessee's ass to start with, then ten more and then another one.

This is the game plan. We have no alternate plan.

Sincerely,

Erk Russell"

[edit] The Miracle Worker

Russell appeared in line to take over as Georgia's head coach when Dooley got a lucrative offer from Auburn, his alma mater. But Dooley decided to stay at Georgia, and Russell was lured to Georgia Southern to restart a program dormant for 40 years.

In 1982, Erk was hired to restart the football program at Georgia Southern College (as the college was called at the time), a program that had not competed in forty years. Three years after beginning the team, Coach Russell had won his first of three National Titles (1985, 1986, and 1989). Russell's bald head, coupled with the fact that he coached the Eagles, gave him the nickname "The Bald Eagle".

After the Eagles moved to Division I-AA in 1984, he fashioned a 70-14 (.825) mark. Russell averaged 10.4 wins per season. He entered the 1989 season as America's winningest coach, orchestrator of two national championships, 68 wins and 14 All-America selections -- all during a seven-year period. In the ensuing 105 days, Georgia Southern ascended to the top spot in the NCAA I-AA football poll and Russell smoked 15 victory cigars. The Eagles extended Division I's longest home win streak from 26 to 37 games, en route to gaining distinction as the only 15-0 college team of this century. Russell's final record at Georgia Southern, after his retirement in 1989, was 83-22-1 (.788).

During the Mike Sewak Era, Russell unfortunately cut ties with GSU after his son Rusty was fired from the coaching staff. In 2006, with the hire of new Head Coach Brian VanGorder, he was reunited with the program. He addressed the team the night before his shocking and sudden death on September 8, 2006.

[edit] Posthumously

Georgia Southern University and thousands of friends, family, and fans gathered at Paulson Stadium to mourn the passing of Erk Russell, one of America’s most exciting and successful college football coaches. The cause of death was a stroke while pulling out of a gas station on the west side of Statesboro. He was 80.

[edit] Victory Cigars

Cigars were a staple of Erk Russell's image. He made a point to smoke a cigar after every Eagle victory that he was involved in. Eagle fans around the U.S. are known to celebrate in the same manner as a tribute to Russell.

[edit] External links

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