NEW ORLEANS — Georgia Southern’s return to winning started with earrings.



When Chad Lunsford took over as interim head coach midway through the 2017 season, replacing Tyson Summers after a 0-6 start, he looked for anything that would help his guys relax. He felt the team was too uptight and tense. A program that went 18-7 from 2014-15 had gone 5-13 since.



So Lunsford told players they were allowed to wear earrings in the building and in meetings.



“I wanted to make it more of a family atmosphere than a business atmosphere,” Lunsford said, looking back.



The sentiment mattered.



“He let us get our swag,” all-conference kicker Tyler Bass said last week at Sun Belt media day. “Not be too personal to take away from the team, but he let us have our swag. He was a players’ coach and understands what we’re going through, understands what we need.”



The Eagles lost their first three...