Losing an assistant coach has become a Georgia State spring tradition.
The Panthers, who lost two offensive coordinators last spring, lost defensive coordinator Nate Fuqua. A member of coach Shawn Elliott’s first staff in 2017, Fuqua was lured to the University of Cincinnati to coach outside linebackers.
“It’s tough any time you lose a staff member,” Elliott said. “I’ve come to accept it. When you hire good coaches, you don’t expect them to stay here the rest of their lives. You have to understand that when they get great opportunities, I think it’s awesome they can go and further their careers.”
Fuqua was nominated for the Frank Boyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant, in 2017. Under his watch the Panthers have set school records for sacks and tackles for loss.
Fuqua will be reunited at Cincinnati with Brad Glenn, a former Georgia State offensive coordinator who spent last year as quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech.
“It’s kind of funny, it’s my old roommate that’s hiring my coaches away,” said Elliott, referring to new Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield, Elliott’s former teammate at Appalachian State.
With the Panthers midway through spring practice, Elliott said he would wait until afterward to find Fuqua’s successor.
“We’re going to find the right fit,” Elliott said. “That could be internally, it could be externally. I’m not in a big hurry to do anything. We can’t make a difference in our spring practice. We’ve got to get better fundamentally. If we just come out of there and we’re a much better tackling football team, then we’ve done our job.”
GSU to play three Thursday games
Three Thursday night games highlight Georgia State’s 2023 football schedule, announced Friday by the Sun Belt Conference.
Georgia State kicks off the 2023 season with back-to-back home games, beginning Aug. 31, a Thursday, against Rhode Island and Connecticut on Sept. 9.
After the Panthers’ first road game Sept. 16 at Charlotte, Georgia State makes the first of two appearances in the Sun Belt’s national TV package on the ESPN networks with a Thursday night game at Coastal Carolina on Sept. 21.
Two more home games follow against Troy on Sept. 30 and then the annual homecoming game Oct. 14 vs. Marshall. After a trip to Louisiana-Lafayette on Oct. 21, the Panthers have another quick turnaround for its Oct. 26 game (a Thursday) at Georgia Southern.
Georgia State hosts its final home games of the season Nov. 4 vs. James Madison and Nov. 11 vs. Appalachian State. The Panthers final non-conference game is a trip to LSU on Nov. 18, and the regular-season finale is Nov. 25 at Old Dominion.
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