Georgia Southern’s football team has had to deal with a handful of coaching changes already this offseason, beginning with head coach Willie Fritz leaving for Tulane. Tyson Summers will be the new head coach starting in 2016. Summers has brought on a coaching staff that has plenty of collegiate experience from all over the nation that should be able to keep Georgia Southern’s football team moving in the right direction.

 Tyson Summers – Head Coach – Former defensive coordinator for Colorado State under head coach Mike Bobo. Summers started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Troy, and then was the safety coach at Georgia Southern, after his first stint with Georgia Southern, Summers went on to the University of Alabama-Birmingham where he started as a linebacker coach and later moved on to coach safeties, right after that he went on to the University of Central Florida where he bounced around as the linebackers coach, safeties coach, co-defensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator.

Lorenzo Costantini – Defensive Coordinator – Former defensive line coach for the University of Central Florida. Costantini was also responsible for recruiting at the University of Central Florida.

 Rance Gillespie – Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach – Former offensive coordinator for Georgia Southern from 2007-2009 and then after that he became the head coach for Valdosta (GA) High School, where he’s been for the past six years, leading them to the playoffs each year.

 David Dean – Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide-Receivers – Former head coach for Valdosta State, leading them to two National Championships at the Division II level. He finished his tenure at Valdosta State with a .745 winning percentage.

Ø Pat Bastien – Linebackers – Former linebacker graduate assistant coach at the University of Central Florida.

Ø Chris Foster – Running Backs – Former running backs coach at Maryville (TN) College, where he led one of the most successful rushing attacks in the nation. Before coaching at Maryville (TN) College, Foster was the running backs coach at Appalachian State.

Ø Jimmy Lindsey – Defensive Line – Former defensive line/assistant head coach at Furman.

Ø Allen Mogridge – Offensive Line – Mogridge has been all over the place, starting as the tight ends/special teams coach for the University of Central Florida, then the offensive line coach for Temple, then back to the University of Central Florida as the H-backs coach for a season and then the offensive line coach the next season.

Ø Jeremy Rowell – Defensive Backs – Former high school and college coach, starting at Troy where he was the defensive backs coach, he was later promoted to be the defensive coordinator. The previous three years he has been the defensive backs coach at Colquitt County (GA) High School, where he helped win back-to-back State Championships.

Ø Dr. Tredell Dorsey – Director of Strength & Conditioning – Dorsey has spent nine years as a strength & conditioning coach at the collegiate level. Before coming to Georgia Southern he was the strength & conditioning coach at the University of Central Florida, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Delaware State University, Alabama State University and Cleveland State University.

Ø Travis Taylor – Director of Football Operations – Taylor has spent five years at the University of Alabama Birmingham, where he spent his final two seasons as the director of football operations. Most recently Taylor has been the director of football operations at Western Kentucky University as the assistant director of football operations.

Ø Steve Dennis – Director of Football Administration – Former director of athletics at Troy, Dennis helped the student-athletes maintain an average GPA of a 3.0 or better, which is one of the best marks in college athletics.

Retained:

Ø Chad Lunsford – Tight Ends/Special Teams Coordinator – Has been with Georgia Southern for the previous three seasons. Lunsford started with wide receivers, then went to tight ends and next season will be his first year as the special teams coordinator. Lunsford’s first stint with Georgia Southern was 2003-2005 coaching the slotbacks. Prior to returning to Georgia Southern, Lunsford spent four years at Auburn first as the director of scouting, to later become the director of player personnel

Ø Chris Ball – Video Coordinator – Ball has been with Georgia Southern since 2013 and prior to Georgia Southern he has worked at Yale, Furman, Eastern Michigan, and Georgia State as a the video coordinator.