Another homecoming week has commenced at Georgia State. From the Homecoming Ball to the Golf Cart Parade to the big football game, this week in October is a time that the university and its alumni look forward to on an annual basis.
But at Georgia State, homecoming was not always an October affair.
Prior to 2010, Georgia State held its Homecoming festivities in the spring semester in February. Many of the events surrounding Homecoming at Georgia State still exist today, but the week-long slate of events would always culminate in a men’s basketball game that took place at the Sports Arena.
That same year was also the inaugural season of the university’s new football team. With it, Georgia State moved its Homecoming events to the traditional fall season.
Dave Cohen, who has served as the “voice of the Panthers” on radio for 32 years, said, “At most universities, homecoming is usually held in the fall with the culmination of everything being the football game. We didn’t have a football team prior to a few years ago, so it made sense for Georgia State to have the more traditional homecoming revolving around the football game.”
The final spring homecoming
The year 2010 was an especially busy year for the university’s homecoming festivities. In addition to a newly redesigned Pounce, it was the year Georgia State held its final spring homecoming as well as the inaugural fall event with the football team’s debut.
The Panthers played William and Mary on Feb. 6 in 2010 at the Sports Arena. Georgia State, as members of the Colonial Athletic Association [CAA], lost 59-56 to the visiting Tribe before 2,347 in attendance. Panthers Senior Guard Trae Goldston led the home team with 15 points that game. Quinn McDowell led the way for William and Mary with 17.
Rod Barnes, who posted a 33-61 record in three seasons at the helm for the Panthers, was the head coach of the team that year. He declined to comment on this story.
The new program
The Panthers began its football saga in 2010, and the first Georgia State homecoming football game took place Oct. 2 at the Georgia Dome as the Panthers took on the Morehead State Eagles. A crowd of 15,264 saw the Panthers defeat Morehead State by a final of 37-10.
The Panthers’ passing, rushing and receiving leaders that game were all freshmen on a team where freshmen made up well over half the roster.
Starting quarterback Drew Little threw for 287-yards and four touchdowns along with completing 21 of his 29 passes.
Travis Evans, who was also a freshman and played runningback, led the Georgia State rushing attack with eight carries and 62-yards.
Danny Williams led the Panthers’ receiving corps that game with eight receptions and 101-yards. Albert Wilson also saw playing time and finished with three catches for 78- yards.
Cohen, who also works in Georgia State’s Alumni Office, recalled that the move was looked at very warmly from the basketball side of things.
“From what I remember, there wasn’t any objection to it,” he said.
Chinara “C.C.” Thomas is currently the administrative coordinator for Spotlight Programs Board. She graduated from Georgia State in 2006 and has worked in the Student*University Center since 2007. She remembers how hectic 2010 was.
“That was a very busy time,” Thomas said. “I remember having to do two homecomings that year. We had the spring event in February then had to turn around [in October] for football.”
Thomas said since the two homecoming periods occurred during different school years, organizing the homecoming festivities was not any more expensive. Homecoming events can be organized by Spotlight, the university or the athletics department.
Something more “traditional”
Part of Georgia State’s aim in adjusting the homecoming festivities was not only to make its event more traditional. While many of the events taking place on homecoming week still occur in fall as they did in spring, they also hoped to foster new traditions.
These included the Alumni Association shifting its Distinguished Awards event from a spring luncheon during the commencement period in May, to a dinner on the Friday night of homecoming week. According to the Alumni Association, the event only garnered approximately 50 attendees when associated with the spring commencement happenings. But since its move to a Friday night during the fall homecoming week, roughly 175 people attend each year.
The association said it also previously hosted a reception at spring Homecoming during the basketball game, which brought out around 300 people. But the organization’s tailgates at the football games gather between 500-600 people.
This year, the Alumni Association scheduled tailgates prior to three home football games—the season opener vs. Abilene Christian on Aug. 27, homecoming vs. Arkansas State, and the Panthers’ much anticipated in-state tilt on Oct. 25 vs. Georgia Southern. One is also scheduled for Georgia State’s Nov. 22 matchup on the road at Clemson.
The Alumni Association has stayed involved with basketball as evidenced by its Feb. 27 trip to Arlington, Texas for the men’s basketball team’s road matchup against Sun Belt foe UT-Arlington. The Panthers were victorious by a final score of 77-49.
Other changes came with the switch from spring to fall as well.
“Our amateur night and talent show that we put on every year was once an event associated with homecoming when it was in Spring,” Thomas said. “It was one of the events we did not move when homecoming went to fall for football, so now it’s its own event in the Spring.”
She said that with homecoming week already full of events including the pep rally for the sports teams, the week was full enough without the Amateur Night and Talent Show.
The move could have been interpreted at the time as another step in Georgia State’s transition into becoming a more traditional campus, including moving from a commuter-based to a residential-oriented campus. Of course, the move in 2010 from fall to spring also had an athletics element.
“I think Georgia State is trying to become more of a football school,” Thomas said.
Ever since the move from to fall from spring, the jury is out on how successful it has been. Thomas believes that homecoming at Georgia State will always be the event it is regardless of what month it is on the calendar.
“I’m not sure that one can say that one has been more successful than the other,” Cohen said.
