ROGERS — John Bond boarded a bus Wednesday that was bound for Tuscaloosa, Ala., on what was the beginning of the end of an unforgettable 29-month journey for the Rogers native.
On that bus, Bond joined Bill Curry and the Georgia State football team. As the Panthers’ offensive coordinator, Bond called the plays in Georgia State’s 63-7 nationally televised loss to Alabama on Thursday night.
Georgia State ended the season with a lopsided loss, but the Panthers’ season was a rousing success, finishing 6-5.
Six victories at the Football Championship Subdivision level may not sound impressive, but it is a long way from where the program was at when Bond was hired.
First Impressions
Curry named Bond as the Panthers offensive coordinator in July 2008 and the former Mounties quarterback will never forget his first staff meeting.
“Our first meeting was on the ninth floor of a bank building,” Bond said. “We didn’t even have a table. We just put a bunch of chairs in a circle.”
Curry and the Georgia State coaching staff met off campus because they had no office. They also had no equipment, and no players.
That first meeting was the real beginning of the school’s football program.
Georgia State is located in downtown Atlanta and is regarded as a commuter school. In an attempt to keep students on campus on the weekends — and build alumni support — the school decided to start a football program.
Curry was given an annual budget of $1.25 million to kick start the program. That budget has now increased to $3 million.
While the Georgia State administration was starting the process of building a program, Bond was across town as the offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. In his only year at Tech in 2007, the Yellow Jackets played in the Humanitarian Bowl and finished 7-5.
But before the bowl game, Tech fired head coach Chan Gailey and Bond was soon out of a job.
“We went to a bowl game, and got fired,” Bond said.
What’s Next?
Bond applied for jobs at Northwestern and Florida International, but was still unemployed in early 2008. Bond then called Georgia State about the head coaching job, but he never heard back from the school.
“I tried to put my hat in the ring,” Bond said.
The school had already set its sights on Curry and the former Alabama coach and ESPN announcer was hired in June 2008. Bond quickly called Curry and was hired a month later.
As an ESPN announcer, Curry covered several of Bond’s games when he was the offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois. The son of former Rogers coach Gary Bond said those games proved critical in his being hired.
“Coach Curry had done a bunch of our games, midweek Tuesday, Thursday games, and I swear, the worst we ever did was score 35 points,” Bond said.
Curry remembers those games well.
“I like to think I discovered John Bond when he was coaching those great offenses at Northern Illinois and I covered his games for ESPN,” Curry said. “I was very impressed with him then, and I’m more impressed after working with him.
“We are very fortunate to have a coach of John Bond’s abilities directing our offense. Frankly, we were very lucky that he was available and in Atlanta at the time we were putting together our staff.”
And Bond has not disappointed his new boss.
Impressive Numbers
Georgia State averaged 29.5 points and 344 yards of offense going into the season finale. It defeated Shorter College 41-7 in its inaugural game and won three straight in the middle of the season. Freshman quarterback Drew Little turned down a scholarship offer from Boston College and passed for 2,033 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Panthers.
“If you would have told me that we would score 30 points a game with 10 guys who had never started a college football game, I would have jumped all over that,” Bond said. “We have continued to get better.”
Little was a member of the school’s first recruiting class and was one of three of the top players from Georgia that signed with the Panthers. Recruiting, Bond said, hasn’t been as difficult as he had expected.
“We play in the Georgia Dome, that is a selling point.,” Bond said. “Coach Curry is a selling point. Atlanta is a selling point. It’s been fairly easy to recruit. It’s been a pleasant surprise.”
With the inaugural season over, Georgia State will now begin preparations for 2011. Nearly every starter returns and most will be in uniform when the school joins the Colonial Athletic Association, which is arguably the best FCS conference, in 2012.
“We have a chance to have a great future,” Bond said “But we still have a ways to go to compete in the Colonial. We are still a bunch of pups.”
Profile
John Bond
AGE: 46
SCHOOL: Georgia State
POSITION: Offensive coordinator
NOTABLE: Bond is a Rogers High graduate and played quarterback for the Mounties. … Has been the offensive coordinator at Army (2000-2003), Northern Illinois (2004-2006) and Georgia Tech (2007). ... Was hired as offensive coordinator by Georgia State in 2008 and the Panthers just concluded their first season of football with a 6-5 record. ... Has also coached at Missouri State, Texas-El Paso and Delta State.