Mark Snyder Canned, Jeff Johnson Hired
Marshall embarks on new era
Huntington, WV (AP) - It wasn't all that long ago that the Thundering Herd won two 1-AA national championships. In fact, Marshall's two trophies are from 1992 and 1996. After the move to 1-A, Marshall continued to have success. The Herd were the winningest Division I program in the 1990s.
However, that success ended in 2003 with an 8-4 season. The following seasons saw records of 6-6, 4-7, 5-7, and a 3-9 mark last year which included an embarrassing 48-35 loss to FCS New Hampshire.
Jeff Johnson, a local high school coach in the Huntington are, has been hired from the job unexpectedly. In fact, Snyder was canned quite suddenly. It appears as if Marshall athletic director Bob Marcum finally let the pressure of his failing football team get to him and made a move. We'll see if it pays off.
Johnson hopes to install a pro-style ball-control offense at Marshall. "Basically, I want to run clock and control the time-of-possession," Johnson said. "I want to run the ball early and often and up the middle, grinding out tough yards. You won't see many, if any, 300 yard passing days from my offense. But you will see some great rushing games."
Johnson will serve as the team's offensive coordinator.
Johnson announced that Ken Norton Jr. will be the Herd's new defensive coordinator. Norton Jr. comes from the USC Trojans, where he coached the linebacking corps. Though Norton Jr. hasn't announced what defense he'll be using, many speculate that the 3-4 will be the choice being his specialty in linebackers.
"Norton Jr. comes in with great promise," head coach Jeff Johnson said, "and I think he'll immediately shore up our defense right away.
PLATFORM: Xbox 360
MODE: Heisman
ROSTERS: DKrause1971's
QUARTER LENGTH: Seven minutes
PLAYCALLING: I must select one of the four plays that "Ask Corso" selects, unless in a third or fourth down situation or with less than two minutes left in a half.
PLAYBOOK: Fresno State
SLIDERS: Mudtiger's with slight modifications
MARSHALL FOOTBALL HISTORY
- By Wikipedia
Marshall is a football school, with a unique and rich tradition, winning conference titles in 1925, 1928, 1931, 1937, 1988, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, as well as I-AA National Championships in 1992 and 1996 and I-AA finalists in 1987, 1991, 1993 and 1995.
The November 14, 1970, plane crash that killed all 75 passengers on board, including 37 members of the Thundering Herd football team, is well-documented. The event and its aftermath were depicted in the 2006 Warner Brothers motion picture, We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox.
NFL players Chad Pennington, Troy Brown, Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich, Chris Crocker, Steve Sciullo, Darius Watts, Chris Massey, Jason Rader, John Wade, Johnathan Goddard, and Ahmad Bradshaw all played collegiately at Marshall. Former Thundering Herd lineman Frank Gatski was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, joining Joe Namath, Roger Staubach, and Pete Rozelle in the class of inductees that year.
Gatski is the only Marshall player to have his jersey number retired and is Marshall's only player in the NFL HOF. The university retired Gatski's No. 72 during a halftime ceremony at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on October 15, 2005. Gatski died a month later, at age 86, and during his career with the Cleveland Browns (1946-56) and the Detroit Lions (1957) he won eight championships in 11 title game appearances. Cleveland won the All-American Football Conference four straight years, going 14-0 in 1948, before joining the NFL. The Browns won NFL titles in 1950, 1954 and 1955 and were runners-up in 1951, 1952 and 1953. Gatski's Lions beat the Browns for his final title in 1957. The 31st Street Bridge, connecting Huntington to Proctorville, Ohio, is also named in Gatki's honor, joining U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (formerly the Sixth St. Bridge) and Congressman Nick Rahall (the former 17th St. Bridge) among three structures stretching across the Ohio River from West Virginia to Ohio.
The Thundering Herd was the winningest NCAA Division I program in the 1990s, winning 114 games against 25 losses, in direct contrast to being the nation's worst football program in the 1970s. Including the year of the crash, Marshall was 23-83 from 1970-79, changing head coaches four times during that period. Marshall had a winless streak of 0-26-1 from 1965-1969, and began Southern Conference play in 1977 with the exact record through 1981, 0-26-1. Marshall tied Western Carolina on a 59-yard field goal by freshman Barry Childers in 1980, still a NCAA frosh record, and finally broke through with a 17-14 win at Appalachian State in November of 1981. Marshall's first winning season since 1964 came in 1984 under first-year head coach Stan Parrish, clinched with a 31-28 win over East Tennessee State in the Bucs "Mini Dome" or Memorial Center indoor stadium.
Marshall won Division I-AA national championships in 1992 over Youngstown State (31-28) and in 1996 over Montana (49-29), as well as being national runner-up in 1987 (10-5, setting record for wins in MU single season), 1991, 1993 and 1995. The Herd won the SC in 1988 (11-2 season), 1994 (12-2) and 1996 (15-0). Marshall set a I-AA record with five straight seasons making at least the semi-finals of the I-AA Playoffs from 1991-96. The 1996 team, with Moss, Wade, Hanson, Erik Kresser, Doug Chapman and many other players who played professional football, was 15-0, had no game closer than a two touchdown win and was ranked No. 1 all-season. It is considered by many as the greatest I-AA team (now Football Championship Subdivision) of all time.
MU moved to Division I-A and the Mid-American Conference in 1997. Marshall won the MAC title five of its eight seasons (1997-98-99-2000-2002) and were runners up in 2001 in the conference before moving up to Conference USA in 2005. Since moving to Division I-A, Marshall is 5-2 in bowl games and has finished in the Top 25 three times: 1999 (10th AP/10th coaches' poll), 2001 (21st coaches poll), 2002 (24th AP/19th coaches poll). Marshall fell to Ole Miss in the 1997 Motor City Bowl, 34-31, but won the next three games in Michigan's Pontiac Silverdome, beating Louisville 48-29 in 1998, beating No. 25 BYU 21-3 in 1999 to finish 13-0 and beating Cincinnati in 2000, 25-14. Marshall and East Carolina matched-up in one of college football's greatest bowl games in 2001 at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, a 64-61 double overtime win by the Herd over the Pirates of Conference USA. It is the highest scoring bowl game of all-time, and MU rallied from an 38-8 halftime hole behind Leftwich's five touchdown passes. Marshall would fall to the Bearcats in the 2004 Plains Capital Fort Worth Bowl at TCU's Carter-Amon Stadium, 32-14, in Bob Pruett's final game as head coach.
Marshall plays at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, which seats 38,019. The stadium, which opened for the 1991 season as Marshall University Stadium with a Marshall record crowd of 33,133 for a 24-23 win over New Hampshire, hosted a record crowd of 40,383 on September 8, 2007, when the Thundering Herd played the in-state rival West Virginia Mountaineers in Huntington for the first time in 92 years. On a facade on the stadium's west side is a bronze memorial dedicated to the plane-crash victims. Edwards Stadium is the only Division I field named for a woman, and Mrs. Edwards husband, James F. Edwards, has his name on the actual playing field.
Marshall has three players in the College Football Hall of Fame, starting with Harry "Cy" Young, who starred in football and baseball at Marshall College (University status in 1961) from 1910-1912. Young then left Marshall, a normal school at that time (two-year program for educating secondary teachers - Marshall began granting four-year degrees in 1920) and was a two-sport All-American at Washington & Lee. He is a member of the W&L HOF, MU HOF, WV Sportswriters HOF and Virginia Sports HOF besides the College FB HOF. Mike Barber (1985-88) was a record-setting receiver for Marshall who helped lead the Herd to its first I-AA title game in 1987 and its first Southern Conference title in 1988. He still holds the receiving yardage record at MU with over 4,200 yards and was a two-time All-American before he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round in 1989. Barber also played for the Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals. Jackie Hunt (1939-41) set a national scoring record in 1940 with 27 touchdowns in a ten-game season. He rushed for nearly 4,000 yards for Thundering Herd, a hometown star for the Huntington High Pony Express before joining Marshall. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears and was a two-time All-American, playing in the Blue-Gray Game following his career. There is a plaque at the College Football Hall of Fame in honor of those lost in the 1970 crash, and assistant coach of that MU team, Frank Loria, is in the Hall of Fame for his career at Virginia Tech. One other member of the Hall has a Marshall connection. John Maulbetsch was an All-American at Michigan, but coached at Marshall from 1929-1930 and posted an 8-8-2 record including a win and tie with Louisville.
***Alright, this is the other dynasty that I was referring to. I plan on running this concurrently with my WVU dynasty to keep things fresh***
Marshall embarks on new era
Huntington, WV (AP) - It wasn't all that long ago that the Thundering Herd won two 1-AA national championships. In fact, Marshall's two trophies are from 1992 and 1996. After the move to 1-A, Marshall continued to have success. The Herd were the winningest Division I program in the 1990s.
However, that success ended in 2003 with an 8-4 season. The following seasons saw records of 6-6, 4-7, 5-7, and a 3-9 mark last year which included an embarrassing 48-35 loss to FCS New Hampshire.
Jeff Johnson, a local high school coach in the Huntington are, has been hired from the job unexpectedly. In fact, Snyder was canned quite suddenly. It appears as if Marshall athletic director Bob Marcum finally let the pressure of his failing football team get to him and made a move. We'll see if it pays off.
Johnson hopes to install a pro-style ball-control offense at Marshall. "Basically, I want to run clock and control the time-of-possession," Johnson said. "I want to run the ball early and often and up the middle, grinding out tough yards. You won't see many, if any, 300 yard passing days from my offense. But you will see some great rushing games."
Johnson will serve as the team's offensive coordinator.
Johnson announced that Ken Norton Jr. will be the Herd's new defensive coordinator. Norton Jr. comes from the USC Trojans, where he coached the linebacking corps. Though Norton Jr. hasn't announced what defense he'll be using, many speculate that the 3-4 will be the choice being his specialty in linebackers.
"Norton Jr. comes in with great promise," head coach Jeff Johnson said, "and I think he'll immediately shore up our defense right away.
PLATFORM: Xbox 360
MODE: Heisman
ROSTERS: DKrause1971's
QUARTER LENGTH: Seven minutes
PLAYCALLING: I must select one of the four plays that "Ask Corso" selects, unless in a third or fourth down situation or with less than two minutes left in a half.
PLAYBOOK: Fresno State
SLIDERS: Mudtiger's with slight modifications
MARSHALL FOOTBALL HISTORY
- By Wikipedia
Marshall is a football school, with a unique and rich tradition, winning conference titles in 1925, 1928, 1931, 1937, 1988, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, as well as I-AA National Championships in 1992 and 1996 and I-AA finalists in 1987, 1991, 1993 and 1995.
The November 14, 1970, plane crash that killed all 75 passengers on board, including 37 members of the Thundering Herd football team, is well-documented. The event and its aftermath were depicted in the 2006 Warner Brothers motion picture, We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox.
NFL players Chad Pennington, Troy Brown, Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich, Chris Crocker, Steve Sciullo, Darius Watts, Chris Massey, Jason Rader, John Wade, Johnathan Goddard, and Ahmad Bradshaw all played collegiately at Marshall. Former Thundering Herd lineman Frank Gatski was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, joining Joe Namath, Roger Staubach, and Pete Rozelle in the class of inductees that year.
Gatski is the only Marshall player to have his jersey number retired and is Marshall's only player in the NFL HOF. The university retired Gatski's No. 72 during a halftime ceremony at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on October 15, 2005. Gatski died a month later, at age 86, and during his career with the Cleveland Browns (1946-56) and the Detroit Lions (1957) he won eight championships in 11 title game appearances. Cleveland won the All-American Football Conference four straight years, going 14-0 in 1948, before joining the NFL. The Browns won NFL titles in 1950, 1954 and 1955 and were runners-up in 1951, 1952 and 1953. Gatski's Lions beat the Browns for his final title in 1957. The 31st Street Bridge, connecting Huntington to Proctorville, Ohio, is also named in Gatki's honor, joining U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (formerly the Sixth St. Bridge) and Congressman Nick Rahall (the former 17th St. Bridge) among three structures stretching across the Ohio River from West Virginia to Ohio.
The Thundering Herd was the winningest NCAA Division I program in the 1990s, winning 114 games against 25 losses, in direct contrast to being the nation's worst football program in the 1970s. Including the year of the crash, Marshall was 23-83 from 1970-79, changing head coaches four times during that period. Marshall had a winless streak of 0-26-1 from 1965-1969, and began Southern Conference play in 1977 with the exact record through 1981, 0-26-1. Marshall tied Western Carolina on a 59-yard field goal by freshman Barry Childers in 1980, still a NCAA frosh record, and finally broke through with a 17-14 win at Appalachian State in November of 1981. Marshall's first winning season since 1964 came in 1984 under first-year head coach Stan Parrish, clinched with a 31-28 win over East Tennessee State in the Bucs "Mini Dome" or Memorial Center indoor stadium.
Marshall won Division I-AA national championships in 1992 over Youngstown State (31-28) and in 1996 over Montana (49-29), as well as being national runner-up in 1987 (10-5, setting record for wins in MU single season), 1991, 1993 and 1995. The Herd won the SC in 1988 (11-2 season), 1994 (12-2) and 1996 (15-0). Marshall set a I-AA record with five straight seasons making at least the semi-finals of the I-AA Playoffs from 1991-96. The 1996 team, with Moss, Wade, Hanson, Erik Kresser, Doug Chapman and many other players who played professional football, was 15-0, had no game closer than a two touchdown win and was ranked No. 1 all-season. It is considered by many as the greatest I-AA team (now Football Championship Subdivision) of all time.
MU moved to Division I-A and the Mid-American Conference in 1997. Marshall won the MAC title five of its eight seasons (1997-98-99-2000-2002) and were runners up in 2001 in the conference before moving up to Conference USA in 2005. Since moving to Division I-A, Marshall is 5-2 in bowl games and has finished in the Top 25 three times: 1999 (10th AP/10th coaches' poll), 2001 (21st coaches poll), 2002 (24th AP/19th coaches poll). Marshall fell to Ole Miss in the 1997 Motor City Bowl, 34-31, but won the next three games in Michigan's Pontiac Silverdome, beating Louisville 48-29 in 1998, beating No. 25 BYU 21-3 in 1999 to finish 13-0 and beating Cincinnati in 2000, 25-14. Marshall and East Carolina matched-up in one of college football's greatest bowl games in 2001 at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, a 64-61 double overtime win by the Herd over the Pirates of Conference USA. It is the highest scoring bowl game of all-time, and MU rallied from an 38-8 halftime hole behind Leftwich's five touchdown passes. Marshall would fall to the Bearcats in the 2004 Plains Capital Fort Worth Bowl at TCU's Carter-Amon Stadium, 32-14, in Bob Pruett's final game as head coach.
Marshall plays at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, which seats 38,019. The stadium, which opened for the 1991 season as Marshall University Stadium with a Marshall record crowd of 33,133 for a 24-23 win over New Hampshire, hosted a record crowd of 40,383 on September 8, 2007, when the Thundering Herd played the in-state rival West Virginia Mountaineers in Huntington for the first time in 92 years. On a facade on the stadium's west side is a bronze memorial dedicated to the plane-crash victims. Edwards Stadium is the only Division I field named for a woman, and Mrs. Edwards husband, James F. Edwards, has his name on the actual playing field.
Marshall has three players in the College Football Hall of Fame, starting with Harry "Cy" Young, who starred in football and baseball at Marshall College (University status in 1961) from 1910-1912. Young then left Marshall, a normal school at that time (two-year program for educating secondary teachers - Marshall began granting four-year degrees in 1920) and was a two-sport All-American at Washington & Lee. He is a member of the W&L HOF, MU HOF, WV Sportswriters HOF and Virginia Sports HOF besides the College FB HOF. Mike Barber (1985-88) was a record-setting receiver for Marshall who helped lead the Herd to its first I-AA title game in 1987 and its first Southern Conference title in 1988. He still holds the receiving yardage record at MU with over 4,200 yards and was a two-time All-American before he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round in 1989. Barber also played for the Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals. Jackie Hunt (1939-41) set a national scoring record in 1940 with 27 touchdowns in a ten-game season. He rushed for nearly 4,000 yards for Thundering Herd, a hometown star for the Huntington High Pony Express before joining Marshall. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears and was a two-time All-American, playing in the Blue-Gray Game following his career. There is a plaque at the College Football Hall of Fame in honor of those lost in the 1970 crash, and assistant coach of that MU team, Frank Loria, is in the Hall of Fame for his career at Virginia Tech. One other member of the Hall has a Marshall connection. John Maulbetsch was an All-American at Michigan, but coached at Marshall from 1929-1930 and posted an 8-8-2 record including a win and tie with Louisville.
***Alright, this is the other dynasty that I was referring to. I plan on running this concurrently with my WVU dynasty to keep things fresh***
Basically, we just couldn't quite get the job done and couldn't get Memphis (1-1, 1-0 C-USA) off the field when it mattered most.
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