Archive for September, 2011

New Georgia State men’s basketball coach Ron Hunter will have a challenging 2011-12 schedule, which was released on Thursday.

The Panthers will play two teams that appeared in last year’s NCAA tournament, VCU and Old Dominion. The Panthers will visit the Rams on Jan. 4 and will host them on Jan. 28. They will host the Monarchs on Feb. 22.

Hunter was hired away from IUPUI after leading it to 254 victories in 17 seasons. The Panthers went 12-19 last season, including a 6-12 CAA record. Georgia State was 2-12 on the road.

The Panthers will open the season in Seattle with a game against Washington on Nov. 12. They will host McNeese State on Nov. 18 in the team’s home debut.

NOTE: I’m sitting down with Hunter next week and will get his thoughts on the schedule.

Date Opponent Time

Oct. 31 SOUTHERN POLY (Exh.) 7 p.m.

Nov. 5 OGLETHORPE (Exh.) 7 p.m.

Nov. 12 at Washington TBA

Nov. 13  vs. Portland TBA

Nov. 14 vs. Florida Atlantic TBA

Nov. 18 MCNEESE STATE 7 p.m.

Nov. 22 at Samford 7 …

Continue reading Georgia State 2011-12 men’s basketball schedule »

Here is the second part of an interview about the state of Georgia State sports with athletics director Cheryl Levick.

I interviewed Levick for about an hour in the conference room of her office.

For those who haven’t met her, Levick is very organized. She used a wipeboard to help with some of her answers so that I could clearly understand some of her points. She’s also very thoughtful, often thinking about her answers before she speaks.

A piece of news that I had heard bits and pieces of, but was able to piece together until Tuesday, is that R. Charles Loudermilk has donated $1 million toward the construction of a new weightlifting facility. There is no site plan or anything yet decided for that gift.

Here’s the first part, and it focuses on football.

Some questions and answers have been paraphrased. In some cases, similar topics were asked during different portions of the interview. Those topics have been grouped together.

Q: What are the top five projects, your …

Continue reading Q&A with Cheryl Levick, part II »

Here is the first part of an interview in the state of Georgia State sports with athletics director Cheryl Levick.

I interviewed Levick for about an hour in the conference room of her office.

For those who haven’t met her, Levick is very organized. She used a wipeboard to help with some of her answers so that I could clearly understand some of her points. She’s also very thoughtful, often thinking about her answers before she speaks.

A piece of news that I had heard bits and pieces of, but was able to piece together until Tuesday, is that R. Charles Loudermilk has donated $1 million toward the construction of a new weightlifting facility. There is no site plan or anything yet decided for that gift.

The second part of the Q&A will be posted tomorrow morning. Here’s the first part, and it focuses on football. Part II will focus on basketball, the future of Panthersville, and fundraising.

Some questions and answers have been paraphrased. In some cases, similar topics were asked …

Continue reading Q&A with Cheryl Levick, part I »

Bill Curry says his Georgia State team isn’t as far along as he thought it would be this year. The mistakes being made are ones he thought the team would have made last year, its first playing football.

Partially because of those errors, the Panthers are 1-3 this season, 7-8 in their 15-game history.

Georgia State is off this week before Murray State and its high-powered offense comes to town next Saturday.

Curry sat down for a few minutes and answered a few questions (questions and answers have been paraphrased):

Q: Will most of the injured players be back?

A: I hope we have most of them back. Will will probably have Clyde (Yandell) and Ben (Jacoby).

Q: What about Albert Wilson?

A: Hardest thing to predict is a hamstring.

Q: What has been the most disappointing thing about the start?

A: Discipline. We have to be better in every way. That’s the head coach’s responsiblililty. The message is clear that we haven’t gotten the job done. We are turning up the tempo; the demands, the …

Continue reading Curry on discipline, and why Schlechter didn’t play »

Georgia State is adding women’s sand volleyball to its group of sports for the 2013 spring season.

The team is the first of at least two that will be added as part of the university’s efforts to remain Title IX compliant because of the addition of football.

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It may seem like an odd mix, sand volleyball on an urban campus, but athletic director Cheryl Levick said the sport will add to the vibrancy of campus life for the student body.

“To have a year-round volleyball opportunity, we thought would be terrific,” Levick said.

The addition has been in the works since shortly after Levick was hired in 2009. In deciding on sand volleyball, Levick said she factored in the students’ interest, the regional interest, a team’s ability to successful, and the bonus that it can be played on campus. Three outdoor courts will be …

Continue reading Georgia State adding sand volleyball »

It would seem that with games against Jacksonville State and Houston now out of the way, the schedule can only get easier, right?

Well, if only it were that easy.

Georgia State now has two weeks to prepare for Murray State, which is 2-2 this season but features a high-powered offense, and South Carolina State, which is also 2-2 with losses against FBS-level opponents.

The Racers would seem to be the most difficult test because of quarterback Casey Brockman. He has passed for more yards (1,226) this season than the Panthers have in total offense  (1,199). The Racers have 1,858 yards in total offense.

The Bulldogs aren’t pushovers either because of a very aggressive defense and an offense that just scored 69 points in a victory against Delaware State last weekend.

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I was listening to coach Bill Curry’s interview on 680AM a little while ago, and he said the program isn’t as far along as he thought it would be at this point. He pointed the finger at himself but also said the …

Continue reading The hard part isn’t over yet »

Before we review Georgia State’s 56-0 loss to Houston, I’m asking you, the fans, to let me know what you would like to know about the athletics department. I’ll be interviewing athletics director Cheryl Levick on Tuesday for a state-of-the-department interview. I have topics I’m interested in, but want to make sure you get a chance. I can’t promise I’ll ask all of your questions, but I’ll try to get the topics covered one way or another. Please post your questions on the blog.

Now, on to the game that was:

Houston 56, Georgia State 0.

As expected, Georgia State fell behind quickly to Case Keenum and Houston and gave up the second-most points in the program’s short history. It’s hard to gauge positives and negatives considering the caliber of the competition, but the Panthers did have a few things to proud of, and a few questions that still haven’t been answered.

What we learned

1. Who is Georgia State’s quarterback. Bo Schlechter, who started and played the majority of the …

Continue reading Looking at Georgia State’s loss to Houston, and a request »

In an attempt to improve attendance, Georgia State has moved back kickoff times for three of its remaining four home football games at the Georgia Dome.

The games against Murray State (Oct. 8), St. Francis (Nov. 5) and Campbell (Nov. 19) will start at 2 p.m. The game against South Alabama (Oct. 22) will keep its 3 p.m. kickoff time.

Attendance for the season-opener against Clark Atlanta surpassed 25,000, including thousands of students. The next game against Old Dominion had an announced attendance of more than 11,000, with perhaps hundreds of students attending. The poor attendance was attributed to numerous campus activities going on at the same time, including rush for sororities.

In an attempt to improve the spirit at the games, Georgia State is asking for fans to wear white to the game against Murray State. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 5,000 fans through the gates.

– Doug Roberson, AJC. Follow me on twitter @ajcgsu

Continue reading GSU moves kickoff times in attempt to draw more fans »

Georgia State starting center Michael Davis is out for the remainder of the football season after suffering a broken ankle.

The ankle was rolled on during Wednesday’s practices. The coaching staff hoped it was just a sprain, but test results showed it was broken.

Davis, who played at Chamblee, started last week’s loss to Jacksonville State because Ben Jacoby suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee during the loss to Old Dominion in the second game of the season. He may return in two weeks.

Ulrick John will start at center in Saturday’s game against Houston.

– Doug Roberson, AJC

Continue reading Michael Davis out for season »

A few tidbits from today’s press conference. Georgia State will face Houston at 8 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on CSS. It can be heard on  1160, 1690 and 88.5.

1. Curry said he made some “boneheaded calls” during the Jacksonville State, notably the decision to have a quick-kick. The Gamecocks blocked the kick and returned it for a touchdown.

“Things like that drain an immature team,” he said. “Can’t have head coach mistakes, you just can’t.”

He declined to go into the specifics of other examples because he said he didn’t want to embarrass anyone. He did say they could have been more aggressive in some of their play-calls. “Things we had to Albert Wilson we could have used earlier and more often.”

On defense, “when it was clear that Coty Blanchard had our number, we probably should have gotten out of the blitz.”

2. The team needs more mental discipline. As evidence he cited the three personal foul penalties that contributed to Jacksonville State scoring …

Continue reading News from Curry’s press conference »