At 1:39 p.m. Thursday, Bill Curry stepped to the podium at Georgia State holding a blue T-shirt with white letters that read, "Still undefeated".

It signaled the beginning of the Curry era and the start of football at Georgia State.

(ENLARGE)

Bill Curry is leaving ESPN to take over Georgia State's fledgling football program.

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The university reached for a high-profile name to start its football program, announcing that the former Georgia Tech coach had signed a five-year contract to become the school's first football coach. Curry will begin his new position July 1 and will immediately begin hiring staff and recruiting as GSU prepares to play its first season in 2010, competing at the level formerly known as Division I-AA, now the Football Championship Subdivision.

"It's important to get started in the proper way in every context," said Curry, whose team will continue to play in the Colonial Athletic Association and play their home games at the Georgia Dome.

The move is comparable to the approach taken by Georgia Southern when it hired Erk Russell to start its program. Russell won a national championship in 1985, his fourth season, and won three before retiring in 1989.

"It's a similar situation," said Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, who played tight end for Curry. "If there's anyone who can do it, it's coach Curry. When he was at Tech there were a lot of those same elements there. It was an established program, but he did a lot to resurrect it."

Georgia State will begin to recruit its first class of players in the fall and will have spring practice in 2009. School officials are looking for possible sites for a downtown-area practice facility.

Curry, 65, grew up in College Park and played at Georgia Tech, where he graduated in 1965 with a degree in industrial management. Curry played in the NFL from 1965-74 with Green Bay, Houston, Baltimore and Los Angeles. He was an All-Pro center with the Colts in 1971 and 1972. He was a starting center in two Super Bowls: for Green Bay in 1967 and for Baltimore in 1971. After retirement he spent three seasons as an assistant at Green Bay under Bart Starr.

Curry spent 17 years as a head coach in college, starting with Georgia Tech from 1980-86, where his record was 31-43-4 and he was ACC Coach of the Year in 1985 after a 9-2-1 season. Curry was 26-10 during his three-year stint at Alabama (1987-89), won the SEC championship in 1989 and was named National Coach of the Year in 1989. He moved on to Kentucky from 1990-96, where his teams went 26-52. He was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.