PHOTO COURTESY OF KENNESAW STATE ATHLETICS
Kennesaw State’s new football coach Jerry Mack spoke to fans and faculty, and held his introductory press conference on Tuesday morning at the Convocation Center.
Mack was introduced by Associate Athletic Director of Communications Nolan Alexander, President Kathy Schwaig and Director of Athletics Milton Overton before he spoke to a crowd of boosters, players, coaches and media members.
“It is an honor to be the new head football coach at Kennesaw State University,” Mack said. “There’s a lot of things that go into be a head football coach, there’s a lot of things through the process and the journey. I will tell you this, God is very rewarding and has blessed my family tremendously.”
He concluded his speech with encouraging words, telling listeners that he was ready to put the college football world on notice.
“Let’s let it be known, let’s let it be shown throughout the country, that Kennesaw State is coming,” Mack said.
Following his introductory speech, Mack greeted those in attendance before taking questions from the media.
Overton did not join Mack in answering questions from the press.
Mack answered questions about the state of the football program regarding its name, image and likeness (NIL) budget, outdated facilities and support from university administration. He said what attracted him to the job was the departments aligned vision.
“One of the things that attracted me to the job was the alignment,” Mack said. “I kind of mentioned that in my (speech). Just from the president, from the athletic director. Those people, when they talk to me about the opportunities for growth, I think that was the biggest thing here about Kennesaw State when they laid out their vision. (There’s) really no specific timetable on when ground is going to be broken on certain things, but I can tell you there is a vision to do some things from a facilities standpoint.”
As for NIL, Mack said he felt as though the resources were in place to support a successful program.
“Obviously the nature of NIL right now everybody’s kind of still navigating what that kind of looks like for their own institution,” Mack said. “I think the resources are in place here with the donors and with the collective.”
Mack said that the program and roster as is, is filled with deficiencies and needs.
“When you have a season like we did, (deficiencies) are everywhere,” Mack said. “It’s not so much that it’s just one specific position, it’s the inconsistencies across the board at every position. So when you talk about recruiting and things like that, we’re open to everything, every position on the table.”
An offensive minded coach, Mack said to expect the Owls to run an up-tempo offensive scheme, resembling that of Tennessee coach Josh Heupel’s.
“If you haven’t had the chance to watch the University of Tennessee, not that we’re going to be Tennessee, but just saying that we’re going to be an up-tempo style,” Mack said. “We’re going to continue to recruit to that style of offense. The first year, we’re going to have to do what our personnel allows us to do.”
Mack said KSU’s biggest draws were the department’s alignment, as well as the large student body.
“First of all, the alignment from the president and the athletic director,” Mack said. “Second of all, the students on campus. When you talk about the student body being close to 50,000 students on campus, that’s just an opportunity for growth. There’s no limitations on how good we can be when you look at the number of students compared to the rest of the schools in the state, and then even the surrounding states, that’s really impressive.”
Mack said the biggest challenge he inherits with the football program will be managing roster turnover.
“I think with any program, one of the biggest challenges is making sure you continue to monitor and enhance the roster,” Mack said. “With so much roster turnover in college football now, with guys being able to jump in the transfer portal. The men that are in the building, you got to do a great job of developing those guys, you’ve got to do a great job of building those relationships. If you want to do something special, you’ve got to build special relationships.”
