There isn’t a good time to have to hire a football coach, but Scot Loeffler’s sudden departure from Bowling Green to take an assistant job with the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 28 left athletic director Derek van der Merwe in a particularly bad spot. With college football’s coaching carousel already complete and spring practice just around the corner, van der Merwe had an unconventional list of candidates to navigate and a short window to complete the process.
Bowling Green coaching alum Urban Meyer pushed an “out of the box” name onto van der Merwe’s radar in Eddie George. The former Heisman Trophy winner, NFL All-Pro and sitting coach at Tennessee State — who ironically took van der Merwe’s initial call while driving through Bowling Green, Kentucky — emerged as the leading candidate and was hired on March 10.
With a splash hire secured, van der Merwe began to see the upside to the awkwardly timed change in leadership.
“What’s unique about this one is that if you can imagine like you’re sitting in December, and you have a coach leaving after a season or after a bowl game. Then all of a sudden, that transfer portal is wide open,” van der Merwe told CBS Sports. “Sometimes they’re out the door before there’s that chance for that coach to kind of on-ramp into that relationship, and demonstrate that person’s really committed to the well-being and the development (of the players).
“So there’s somewhat of an advantage for a March (hiring) situation. Yes, they have this transfer portal window open because of the transition, but you know that they’re still enrolled in school for the semester and they they’re still going to complete the semester in school. (This way they) get the chance for that coach to actually sit down with that person.”
Now the Falcons are full steam ahead preparing for spring practice — still set to start next week — and only one player has formally entered the portal since Loffler left. George and his staff will get 15 full practice sessions to make an impression before the portal window opens on April 16.
He’s no stranger to a late start. He hit the ground running in April of his first season at TSU. He has conducted meetings with the current assistants and it’s unclear if he will make any outside hires — which could include with members of the TSU staff that won an OVC title and qualified for the FCS playoffs last year.
“I think now the goal is, how do we get to September?” George told reporters after his introductory press conference. “It’s going to take diligence. It’s going to take us, for us to be focused, operate with a great attitude (and) be intentional. You know, trust the process of us getting there. And that process is constantly having communication, being transparent with that communication and understanding that the end goal is to put the best staff together. ”
Van der Merwe calls George a renaissance man who has been successful in business, Broadway, and now coaching. It stands to reason that George will be key in raising funds for the program as a familiar face to alumni who remember him as a Tennessee Titans or Ohio State star. It’s also unclear if George will be donating back to the school a la Joe Moglia at Coastal Carolina or Biff Poggi at Charlotte.
The Eddie George era may be starting a little late in comparison to other coaching tenures, but the fact that it’s happening at all is a bold bet by Bowling Green that he can bring a renaissance for the Falcons — just like Meyer did 25 years ago.
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