Former Falcons coach hires as football consultant at Ga. St.

<p>Saying he knew Georgia State was serious about adding football to its athletic program, former National Football League coach Dan Reeves said Thursday he would "see if we can get ready to get this thing started."</p><p>Reeves, who spent 23 seasons as an NFL coach with the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons, was hired by GSU as a consultant to study starting football at the downtown Atlanta university. He would find out if there is financial support among the people and business community for football at the school.</p><p>"We really are going to explore this thing," Reeves said.</p><p>He did not discount the possibility of being involved directly with the program if football is started at the school.</p><p>"I think that's down the road. I've never been involved in college football except as a player," said Reeves, who played college ball at South Carolina and then went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys. "This is a new experience for me. We'll find out what's the situation ... and if that means me being involved, we'll see."</p><p>Reeves said he had talked with Howard Schnellenberger, a former NFL coach with 20 years of college coaching experience, including starting a program from scratch in 1998 at Florida Atlantic University.</p><p>He said Schnellenberger told him he would be surprised how exciting it is to build a program from the ground floor.</p><p>A football program isn't a sure thing, even though studies suggest there is an interest in having a team.</p><p>University president Carl Patton noted that Lefty Driesell was hired as the GSU basketball coach 10 years ago, and said, "Today we are here to step up again. I understand what a good athletic program can do for a university. It's time to take the next step and explore whether we should go on (with football)."</p><p>"We are quite serious but we have not made a decision to have football," athletic director Mary McElroy said. "We need to find out if there is financial support for football."</p><p>Georgia State, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, would become the eighth member of the conference to play football on the Division I-AA level.</p><p>A feasibility study already done indicates that maintaining a football program would cost about $6 million annually with an estimated startup cost of $5.8 million.</p><p>The Panthers are at least three years away from fielding a team, which would initially play home games in the Georgia Dome.</p><p>Reeves said he was hopeful the team could have its own stadium. He favored one on campus, but that could be a problem for a downtown university.</p>

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