ATLANTA — Paul Johnson had already been at Navy for four years when he placed a call to Roger Inman, his old do-everything man from Georgia Southern. They had known each other since their early 20s when Johnson was starting his long climb up the coaching ladder and Inman was doing whatever the program needed from driving buses to selling tickets, from looking after the equipment to even patching up injured players.
So when Johnson called in 2006 — by then, more successful and wealthier than ever — ranting and raving about how Georgia Southern's first-year coach Brian VanGorder was trying to undo the triple option offense that had lifted the program to prominence, Inman knew it had wounded Johnson's football soul.
"VanGorder had made some comments that he didn't think too highly of the offense, and Paul called me up and said, 'I need to talk to (athletics director) Sam (Baker) and get Georgia Southern on the schedule,'" Inman said. "I said, 'Why do you want to play us?' And he said, 'Because I want to beat the hell out of Brian VanGorder.' "
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