Leave it to traffic in Atlanta to help Kennesaw State find its first football coach.
Brian Bohannon was driving from his home in Woodstock to his job as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech when he cut through Kennesaw State’s campus several years ago looking for a shortcut to Barrett Parkway to avoid congestion on I-75.
He passed new dorms and new buildings. The more he drove through campus in later years the more new things he saw, including the stadium. He realized something big was brewing.
On Tuesday, with apologies to school president Dan Papp, Bohannon became the face of those buildings, that stadium and the university when he was introduced as the Owls’ first football coach for a team that will play its first game until 2015.
“This is something you look forward to as you get into the coaching profession,” he said. “I’m truly honored to be part of a great institution that already has so many special things going on here.”
Upon hearing that Kennesaw State was going to start a football program, and remembering what he saw on his search for a shortcut, Bohannon, a former player at Georgia, gave his resume to Vince Dooley, who was a consultant to KSU as it weighed whether it wanted a team. Dooley passed the resume to Owls athletic director Vaughn Williams.
Williams and Bohannon met for the first time for breakfast on Christmas Eve at the Marietta Diner in a get-to-know you session. One breakfast led to more.
Bohannon liked Williams’ approach of trying to develop a culture of winning on and off the field. Williams liked Bohannon’s sincerity, honesty and background of winning.
In February, the Board of Regents approved the school’s use of a $100-per-semester increase in student fees to fund the sport. On Sunday, Bohannon, an assistant coach for 17 years who hadn’t interviewed for a job in 16 years, was announced as coach, beating out others with head-coaching experience.
On Tuesday, surrounded by family and friends, Bohannon stood wearing a dark suit with gray stripes, and yellow tie (he said he’s lucky KSU’s colors are similar to Tech’s) in the northern end of the stadium, in a locker room with dark, rich tones that seemingly are just waiting for players to arrive, and he outlined his vision.
He said he’s guided by three core values: faith, football and winning the day.
“We want our young men, our staff to win the day in the classroom, in the field, in our personal lives,” he said. “That is the statement for them. When they win the day, they have a chance to be great in the community, great men.
“I know we have to win. But it’s about winning the day; it’s about achieving things in the classroom and developing men. We have to impact them and it’s our job to do that.”
Bohannon said he is more than comfortable being the face of the university, adding that even if he wasn’t he would still say he was. Recruiting at Georgia Tech, Navy, Georgia Southern and Gardner-Webb prepared him for that aspect of the job. The Owls’ first recruiting class will sign in February, and several transfers likely will come (Bohannon said he already had received an email from a player asking about joining the program).
Bohannon said he also understands that most of his job for the next year will be fundraising and working on increasing the interest in the university and the sport. His calendar for the week already was booked in yellow, signifying head-coaching duties, starting with throwing out the first pitch at Tuesday’s baseball game.
Keeping with the vibe he got driving around campus years ago, Bohannon was practically vibrating with energy Tuesday about the job and the school’s potential.
“All football is going to do is open that up for everyone to see,” he said.
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