Football 2/11/2004 5:20:00 AM Southern Conference Georgia Southern Adds Assistant Football Coach STATESBORO, Ga. -- Andre Curtis has been named defensive ends coach at Georgia Southern University according to an announcement from head football coach Mike Sewak Wednesday.Prior to his appointment at GSU, Curtis served as linebackers coach at former Southern Conference rival Virginia Military Institute from 2000 to 2003. He handled the Keydet outside linebackers during his first three years on Cal McCombs' staff before working with the inside linebackers last fall. Curtis helped lead VMI to a six-win campaign in 2002, the most victories for a Keydet program since 1981, before following up with six more triumphs during the 2003 season.While on the VMI staff, Curtis was twice selected to participate in the National Football League's (NFL) Minority Coaching Fellowship Program. In 2002, he spent two weeks with the New York Jets and accompanied the organization to Tokyo, Japan, before working with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in August of 2003.As a player at VMI, Curtis earned four letters and made 31 consecutive starts at linebacker before finishing his career as the Keydets' sixth-leading all-time tackler with 354 stops. In 1998, he ranked second in the SoCon with 106 total tackles and was selected to the all-league squad by the media. His 23-tackle effort against Wofford on Oct. 10, 1998 still stands as the third-highest single-game total in school history.Curtis was honored as the Richmond (Va.) Touchdown Club's Offensive Lineman-of-the-Year and Central Region's Defensive Player-of-the-Year in 1994 while starring at Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Va.Curtis, who earned a bachelor's degree in economics from VMI in 1999, is married to the former Erica Pleasants of Doswell, Va.