The day started in an Atlanta jail cell for Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans and ended before a media throng in Athens, as an “ashamed and embarrassed” Evans addressed the DUI charges against him and vowed Thursday afternoon to do whatever he could to regain the trust of the Bulldog nation.

Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans addresses the media Thursday afternoon at the Rankin Smith Center. Adams apologized for shaming the University following his DUI arrest. Photo by WES BLANKENSHIP

“I let this University down, I let my family down, I let those in the Bulldog nation down,” Evans said as top University administrators and Bulldog coaches looked on. “I let so many people down that believe in me. My goal has always been to represent this institution in the utmost fashion, unfortunately I failed at that. I failed miserably.”

As his wife and children watched from the side, Evans said he has a lot to work on personally but did not know what was to come next professionally. One person who might know, University President Michael Adams, was not in the room Thursday. Adams, who is on vacation, had a written statement released on his behalf following Evans’ remarks.

“UGA Athletic Director Damon Evans informed me early this morning of his arrest and provided me an account of the events of last night,” Adams wrote. “Drinking and driving is a serious matter, and I was extremely disappointed to hear of the arrest. Certainly this is not an example of the kind of leadership that I expect our senior administrators to set. I have high regard for Damon personally; I care deeply about him and his family and know him to be a man of integrity. He has sincerely apologized to me for the embarrassment this has brought upon the university. I was notified of this matter while away on vacation and will reserve further action pending a full review by staff and legal counsel.”

“Dr. Adams has stood by me through this difficult time,” Evans said. “I have had conversations with him and I understand the predicament that I have put him in. I do believe my actions have put a black cloud over the program.”

The late afternoon contrition by Evans was spurred on by actions 18 hours earlier.  Evans was pulled over in his 2009 BMW in Atlanta shortly before midnight Wednesday and a field sobriety test was performed. He was taken to the Atlanta city jail, where he refused a breath test, and released early Thursday, charged with DUI and driving in an improper lane.

A passenger in Evans’ car, 28-year-old Courtney Fuhrmann, of Atlanta, was arrested for disorderly conduct.

“The trooper made the traffic stop after observing the manner he was driving,” Gordy Wright, a state patrol spokesman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He got him stopped, detected an odor of alcohol, administered field sobriety tests and determined he was less safe to be driving.”

Thursday afternoon Evans did not expand too much on the events of the evening, citing he did not want to talk about an ongoing investigation. When asked about Fuhrmann, he said the two were just friends.

“My family is the most important thing to me and I brought shame to them,” Evans said. “I have a beautiful wife who is going through a lot right now, which haunts me and troubles me.”

Earlier Thursday, coaches and senior staff attended a meeting in Evans’ office at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. Basketball coach Mark Fox and baseball coach David Perno were two coaches in attendance at the press conference, as was Tim Burgess, senior vice president for finance and administration, and Tom Landrum, senior vice president for external affairs.

“It’s going to take a while for me to earn your trust back and it should and I don’t know if I ever will,” Evans said. “But I will do everything in my power to make you believe in me once again.”

Earlier this year Evans was awarded a sizable pay raise, as the athletic association voted unanimously to grant him a contract extension and boost his pay to $550,000. Each year for the next five years he will get an automatic $20,000 raise, which will give him a salary of  $630,000 by 2014. He will receive a $250,000 longevity bonus if he remains in the job when the contract expires in 2015. The start of his new contract begins today, as his pay increased $110,000 on July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

University students were talking about the arrest on campus Thursday.

“I think it’s pretty ironic since they show that anti-DUI video with him in it on the JumboTron at every football game,” said rising senior David McHugh. “I am very disappointed that our athletic director would do something that he tells the students not to do at every football game. I think it sheds a very bad light on our University, and I think he should be punished for his actions.”

“My first reaction was, ‘Really?’, because the person who told me about it is someone I go to football games with, and my friend told me the main thing Evans said at football games was ‘Don’t drink and drive, because if you drink and drive, you lose.’ And that’s why this is so shocking,” said Azubuike Ekwueme, a rising junior who works at the Tate Student Center Information Desk. “Someone as big as he is, with the title he has should be more of a role model to others. It would make him a better role model if this wouldn’t have happened. At the same time, he’s human, and it happens. But for those that it happens to, knowing you’re a celebrity for the most part, you’ve gotta watch the things you do, when you do them, because you’re looked at more (closely) than others are.”

Under the policy set forth by the Georgia Athletic Department, a student-athlete found in violation of the University’s alcohol policy is automatically suspended for 10 percent of the team’s games.

Evans took over as athletic director in 2004, replacing longtime athletic director and football coach Vince Dooley. The athletic association has thrived under Evans’ leadership, as the association’s coffers hold tens of millions of dollars in reserve. The athletic facilities have also expanded under Evans care, and the proof is all over campus. A $40 million expansion to the Butts-Mehre building is under way, joining the $12 million makeover of Stegeman Coliseum and a $10 million upgrade to Reed Alley, which will hold extra concessions at Sanford Stadium.

But that was all out of sight on Thursday – all to see was a man behind a table trying to explain his actions just hours before.

“I’ve got a lot of soul searching , I’ve got a lot of thinking to do,” Evans said.  “I have to take a step back and say “Damon, you have to get back on track, you have to set an example. You have to be the leader that you talked about being. You have to be a role model for the student athletes that come through here.”

“This is an opportunity to look at myself and decide who I am as a human being,” he said. “Right now I have some shortcomings.”

- Ryan Black contributed to this report.