Bill Curry recently had a physical examination and was pronounced healthy. Curry credited clean living; the doctor opted for hardy genetics. But even a guy with a low resting heart rate was shaken by a phone call he received last month.

It was Mary McElroy, the athletics director at Georgia State. Curry, knowing the school was starting a football program, had talked to a few potential candidates and had compiled a list of names to pass along.

Alexander Acosta / AJC (ENLARGE)

Bill Curry (left), who last coached in 1996, described his shock and excitement when athletics director Mary McElroy (holding shirt) contacted him.

Alexander Acosta / AJC (ENLARGE)

Georgia State President Carl Patton (right) called Bill Curry 'the perfect person to launch football at Georgia State.'

"She said, 'I don't want your ideas. I want to know if you would be interested in being our head coach,' " Curry said. "That just shocked me out of my mind."

Curry said two thoughts raced through his mind: the surprise of the question and "the shock that my heart is pounding out of my chest, and I'm thinking about blocking sleds."

McElroy said there was a 10-second pause. Curry put it at 20 seconds. And when the affirmative answer came, it was just the one McElroy wanted to hear.

On Thursday afternoon, before a crowd of 300 interested Georgia State fans, Curry was introduced as the man who will start the school's football program. He received loud applause when he approached the podium and held up a GSU football shirt, which had "Still Undefeated" printed on the back.

Then Curry did what he does so well. He took the podium and commanded the attention of the audience as he talked about why a guy who has coached and played at the highest levels would want to start a program at a school with little athletic history.

"I am a football coach. That's who I am," said Curry, who said he chose his profession when he worked at a football day camp as a teenager in College Park. "Within two days I knew it's what I wanted to do with my life."

Curry agreed to a five-year contract at Georgia State, which will field its first team in 2010. The financial details haven't been worked out. Former Falcons coach Dan Reeves, hired as a consultant last year when the football process was starting, did not seek the job, telling the administration it would be better off hiring someone with a college background.

"From the moment we first spoke with Bill about Georgia State, you could see and feel how genuinely excited he was about the challenge," McElroy said. "And make no mistake, it is quite a challenge to start a program from scratch. But we know we have the person who will do everything the right way while building a rock-solid foundation for Georgia State football."

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 the Green Bay Packers, Houston Oilers, Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams. 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 the first Super Bowl and for the Baltimore Colts in the fifth. 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. He was named 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). He shared the SEC championship in 1989 and was named National Coach of the Year. He moved to Kentucky from 1990-96, where his teams went 26-52.

He was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.

Curry has spent the past 11 years as a football analyst for ESPN. He hasn't often considered a return to the sideline — an Eastern school made a cursory call four years ago — because he was sure that his wife, Carolyn, who also grew up in College Park, wouldn't be agreeable to such a move.

He insisted his role at Georgia State will be only as a coach, and he doesn't plan to leave anytime soon.

Next on the agenda will be the hiring of as many as four assistants, a director of football operations and an administrative assistant. Curry said his staff will be quick to make inroads with the state's high school coaches in preparation for that first class of recruits.

"It will work at Georgia State," Curry said. "Everything is present for football to work. The only question is how well we do early and how quickly do we make decisions that move it forward at the right pace."

There are many items on the program's to-do list, including ordering equipment and finding a place to practice. But the big-ticket item has been scratched off.

"Bill is the perfect person to launch football at Georgia State," its president, Carl Patton, said. "I'm reserving my 50-yard line tickets for the kickoff in the Dome."