A new, shiny whistle around his neck, Bill Curry lectured those in attendance for nearly 15 minutes.
But the audience the Georgia State coach was talking to Tuesday wasn't his own players. No, it was members of the media who came for the Panthers' media day to hear Curry and his team give their thoughts on the coming season.
The first thing Curry touched on had nothing to do with football, though. It had to do with the difference a coach can make in a player's life, calling it "an amazing and remarkable responsibility."
"It's not just a game," he said. "You're dealing with young lives, maybe in a more profound way than any of us ever realize."
Curry said the realization hit home during the offseason, when he looked around the college sports landscape and saw scandals everywhere. It forced him to question and search himself, making a vow to improve all aspects surrounding the Panthers.
"Whether it's a new program like Georgia State, whether it's one that's been around for 120 years, we have the responsibility the likes of which our culture has never given us before," he said.
The scandal at Penn State has been difficult for Curry to digest. Not only because of the physical and emotional pain suffered by Jerry Sandusky's victims, but because of his friendship with the late Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
"Joe and Sue Paterno befriended [Curry's wife] Carol and me years and years ago and were wonderful to us," he said. "As for what happened, whether the circumstances, the lawsuits, the trials, sanctions, I'm really not qualified to comment. ... From where I sit, it's so emotional, it's so draining, it's so difficult to contemplate all those victims and all the implications. I have kept my mouth shut about it, and I'm going to keep doing that."
That proved to be the only topic Curry was tight-lipped about. Before answering his first question from the media, he had explained 19 things his team had experienced in the offseason, from applying "attitude technique principles" he learned from former Georgia Tech athletic director Homer Rice to the myriad seminars the Panthers took part in: gang violence, academic dishonesty, teen suicide prevention and sexual misconduct, among others.
Curry saved what he felt was most important for the last point of his detailed opening statement — honoring the 28 fourth-year players on the roster. He recalled traveling to Lakewood Stadium with them that first season, to a muddy field with broken glass and yellow jackets in the turf, nary a game on the schedule for the start-up program.
Those who remain are now regarded by Curry as "the guts" of the team.
"Those guys deserve an award," he said, "and I want that award to be what we learn as a team this season in the classroom and on the field."
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