Georgia State Football: Mazzone’s Visit Highlights Day Four of Preseason Drills

ATLANTA (August 7, 2010) — Georgia State’s fourth day of preseason practice began with a visit from former Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone.

Mazzone addressed the GSU players and staff Saturday morning, discussing the Braves’ rise from “worst to first” in 1991, beginning an unprecedented run of 14 straight division titles by the Atlanta franchise.

Georgia State head coach Bill Curry and Mazzone have become good friends. Mazzone is a Maryland native who grew up idolizing the Baltimore Colts and legendary quarterback John Unitas, to whom Curry snapped as a center.

In introducing Mazzone to the team, Curry called him “the best assistant coach in the history of professional sports.”

“I’m not just saying that because he’s my buddy,” said Curry. “That’s based on statistics. A statistician studied the pitchers he coached, and documented their performances before they were coached by Leo, while they were coached by Leo, and then after they were coached by him, and the numbers back it up.”

Mazzone talked about arriving as the Braves’ pitching coach in June of 1990, when Bobby Cox took over as manager. The team was mired in last place at that time but had a wealth of potential and young talent, including future standout pitchers John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.

“We had to get organized, dedicate ourselves, and get to work,” said Mazzone. “It took consistency and work ethic. Bobby Cox’s rules have always been very simple: be on time, respect your uniform and play hard.”

Mazzone used a football analogy to explain his philosophy.

“I wanted our pitchers to always be in attack mode,” he said. “I wanted them to attack smart, but always be on the attack.

“If I thought a guy was pitching not to lose, rather than attacking, I would go to the mound and say, ‘What are you doing, playing a prevent defense?’”

Saturday was the fourth day of preseason practice for Georgia State, but the Panthers lost much of Friday’s workout after being chased off the field by the threat of lightning.

“The guys are leg weary, and you can see the self-pity; it almost oozes out of the pores,” said Curry. “We start to drop balls and line up incorrectly. I don’t tolerate that, and it gives me a chance to put my foot down and lengthen practice or repeat periods until we start to execute with some snap and precision. That’s fact of life with any team.”

Curry is looking for his squad to persevere through the “dog days” of preseason practice in the heat of August.

“I told the guys today that the ‘new’ stuff is over,” he said. “We’re not a new team anymore. We’ve seen you now, we know what you can do, and we expect you to do it. Most of them understand that and are trying to respond.”

After a day off from practice on Sunday, the Panthers will work in full pads for the first time Monday morning.

“I’m looking for a big jump because we’re not practicing this afternoon or tomorrow,” said Curry. “I think the rules are good because the players get some time off their feet. We should have plenty of energy Monday, and we should have had plenty of time to study our playbooks. I expect to start looking like a real football team, officially, Monday morning.”

Georgia State’s inaugural season kicks off Sept. 2, when the Panthers host Shorter at 7:30 p.m. at the Georgia Dome.