Daniel Miller
On Tuesday marked a historic day for Kennesaw State as Brian Bohannon was introduced as the first head coach in school history. “This is a day that will be hallmarked in KSU history” KSU President Daniel Papp stated. He added throughout the whole searching process, it was important to find a coach that was able to relate to 21st century student athletes, that knows the state of Georgia, and understands the term both student and athlete. Along with A.D Vaughn Williams, they both came to the conclusion that Brian Bohannon was the right man for the job. Coach Bohannon embodies every value, characteristic and skill set that we look for when choosing head coaches to lead our student-athletes Williams said. Many milestones are falling our way Williams added, and today is about progress. “Its about striving for excellence”.
When coach Bohannon took the podium, one of the first things he mentioned was that the night before, he was thinking of everything that has led him up to this point today, and that its “surreal to be Kennesaw State University’s first head coach”. Right away coach Bohannon said he was “humbled and honored it is to be apart of a great institution that has so many great things going on”. “Let me start by saying how excited I am to be the first-ever Kennesaw State head football coach,” Bohannon said. “Kennesaw State is a special place with a great student body, administration and faculty, and I am just excited about the opportunity. He stated that his job as head coach is to “work toward developing the total student-athlete in the classroom, on the field of play and in the campus and local communities”.
Bohannon has been around the game of football for a long time. He has extensive division 1 experience, and a deep history in the state of Georgia. With 17 years of coaching experience at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) levels, all of which have come while working with Paul Johnson at Georgia Southern, Navy, Georgia Tech. Bohannon has a great offensive mind as every school he was at, the schools have produced prolific offensives particularly running the ball in triple option attacks that feature one and two b-backs. In 16 years he has only interviewed for one job. “ I don’t interview for a job if I don’t want it” and the reason I interviewed and wanted this job is because I “thought it was something special here”.
Right now the next step is to start the recruiting process. When asked what he is looking for in a recruit, Bohannon said there will be a profile for each student athlete. The components will include an academic profile and character profile that fits the profile of KSU. When the Kennesaw State football team takes the field in 2015, fans can expect a team that will play hard, be well coached, and be disciplined. Bohannon adamantly said that “I’m not taking a job to look for the next job. I am here for the long haul. This place, I felt it.”
Very soon college football will being played at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in front of 8,300 students, faculty, and alumni and once it is, just as coach Bohannon said, it will be something special.
