Erskine "Erk" Russell (July 23, 1926 – September 8, 2006) was an American football, basketball, track and baseball player and coach. He was also the defensive coordinator for the Georgia Bulldogs for seventeen years (1964–1981) and head football coach (1981–1989) of the Georgia Southern Eagles. He was also the head coach at Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1950s. He graduated from Auburn University where he earned ten varsity letters. He was the last four-sport letterman in the college's history.
As the first head coach of Georgia Southern Eagles football team after a 40-year dormancy, Russell established a standard of excellence during his tenure, bringing them to three NCAA Division I-AA championships. Under his guidance the Georgia Southern Eagles became the first 15–0 team of the 20th century. His motto was "Just one more time."
Erk Russell was the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Coach of the Year for 1984–1986; was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1987; inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1991; became USA Today's Georgia Coach of the Year and Coach of the Decade for 1989; In 1989, he also became the Chevrolet-CBS Sports I-AA Coach of the Year; and in 1996 he was an Olympic torch bearer for the Atlanta Games.
Russell died in Statesboro, Georgia, on September 8, 2006, following a stroke at age 80. His funeral took place two days later at Paulson Stadium with over 2,000 fans, friends, family, and former players present. His remains were cremated.
Early life
Russell grew up playing football in Ensley Park and later at Ensley High School. He was a four-sport letterman at Auburn University.
The Junkyard Dawgs
After talking with a fan, Jimmy Matthew, Erk decided to use the phrase “Junkyard Dawgs” as motivation for his defense after an uncharacteristically poor season in 1974. After Erk received Vince Dooley's okay, Russell called Roger Dancz, the director of Georgia's Redcoat Marching Band, and suggested that if the Bulldogs ever did something good on the field, how about cranking up a few bars of Jim Croce's "Bad, bad Leroy Brown."
From the American Football Coaches Association's Defensive Football Strategies, the chapter penned by Erk defines the Junkyard Dawgs, "By our own definition, a Junkyard Dog is a dog completely dedicated to his task, that of defending his goal line. Further, he is very often a reject (from the offense) or the runt of the litter. Nobody wants him, and he is hungry. We had three walk-ons, four QBs, and three running backs in our original Junkyard Dog starting cast, which averaged 208 pounds across the front. In short, a Junkyard Dog is one who must stretch and strain all of his potential just to survive. Then he can think about being good."
Georgia went 9-3 in 1975 and brought home the third SEC title for Dooley in 1976.
During the 17 years that Erk served as Georgia Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, the 'Dawgs played 192 games and held the opposition to 17 or fewer points in 135 of them. In 74 of those contests, the defense kept the other team's scoring in the single digits, including 27 shutouts. Coach Russell's Georgia defenses allowed more than 28 points just 18 times in 17 seasons.
The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, even recorded "Dooley's Junkyard Dawgs", and belted out the tune during the half time of the Florida-Georgia game in the Gator Bowl Stadium.
Player communication
Russell was notorious for his communication and motivational nature among his players. He was known for sending out calendars to his players over the summer, reminding them to be in shape for the start of practice and suggesting a humorous workout regimen that would include entries such as: "Run three miles, hate Georgia Tech four times."
He also came up with all sorts of folksy sayings that somehow seemed to work on the younger generation. Russell was the one who coined the phrase "Junkyard Dawgs" for Georgia's undersized defense. He came up with T-shirts that had "TEAM" printed in large letters and "me" in small letters. And he always told his players, "If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose." Erk Russell other inspirational quotes consist of, "The best way to win a game is not to lose it." and "The brotherhood of football ... is the strongest brotherhood known to man as far as I'm concerned."
During a road game at Georgia Tech, Coach Russell saw a Yellow Jacket trainer in a sweatshirt reading "G.T.A.A."---"Georgia Tech Athletic Association"---and came up with the idea of rearranging the letters to produce a memorable slogan: "G.A.T.A."---"Get After Their Asses".