Herd in one of 10 C-USA games picked up by FOX College Sports
Written by Woody Woodrum
IRVING, Texas — FOX College Sports has announced that it will televise 10 Conference USA football games this fall, including Marshall’s first ever game at Florida Atlantic.
The Herd will invade the Owls nest in Boca Raton, Fla. on October 12 at 5 p.m. on FCS.
The Thundering Herd will now have television on nine of 12 games, with more games possibly added in later this summer or in the fall.
All 12 games and any postseason play for Marshall can be heard on the Thundering Herd/IMG Sports Network, including in Huntington on flagship stations WDGG 93.7 FM, The Dawg, and WRVC 930 AM and 94.1 FM, SuperTalk.
The FCS schedule includes seven league games and will involve 12 current C-USA schools, as well as two future league members.
The schedule will begin on the first Saturday of the season, August 31, when future member Old Dominion makes the short trip to Greenville, N.C. to face East Carolina at 7 p.m. (all times Eastern).
Marshall football trio on CFPA watch list; MUQBCC holds special social, golf June 27-28
Written by Woody Woodrum
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three Marshall student-athletes were honored this week as they were each named to the 2013 College Football Performance Offensive Awards Watch List.
Thundering Herd junior quarterback Rakeem Cato is one of 30 quarterbacks in the running for the CFPA Quarterback Trophy, while senior tight end "Gator" Hoskins is one of 36 tight ends chosen and junior Tommy Shuler is one of 31 wideouts selected.
"Congratulations to Rakeem, Tommy and Gator on earning spots on the 2013 CFPA Offensive Awards Watch List," CFPA Executive Director Brad Smith said.
"All three players have tremendous potential for continued success in 2013."
Cato was Conference USA’s MVP last season, one of the leaders in the nation in passing yards and completions.
Hoskins had a Marshall tight end record of 10 touchdown catches.
Shuler set a school-record with 110 receptions, passing College Football Hall of Fame and Marshall HOF member Mike Barber’s 108 from 1987.
Two Marshall student-athletes have earned CFPA’s honors.
Monday, June 3, 2013
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERD INSIDER SENIOR EDITOR
HUNTINGTON – Summertime … and the livin’ isn’t easy on the Thundering Herd football staff.
While Herd fans look forward to the 2013 season and an Aug. 31 opener against Miami of Ohio, Marshall Coach Doc Holliday and his aides are intensely looking at 2014 and beyond.
“It’s a busy time for us,” said Todd Hartley, the Herd’s tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
The Herd offensive staff sat down late last week to do their rankings of Herd prospects on that side of the ball. The defensive assistants do the same early this week. Then on Saturday and Sunday, Marshall hosts its one-day “elite” camps.
Herd Has Map Out for In-State, Tri-State Recruiting
Written by Jack Bogaczyk
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERD INSIDER SENIOR EDITOR
HUNTINGTON – Doc Holliday is a West Virginia native, from nearby Hurricane to be exact. Still calls the Putnam County town home.
He played college football for an in-state program, West Virginia. He’s coached at both Mountain State major programs, too.
So, it makes sense that while the Marshall fourth-year head coach is known for his recruiting acumen – and great success – in Florida, Holliday’s program certainly is not going to ignore prospects in his backyard.
“I think we’re doing a much better job with the in-state kids,” said Todd Hartley, the Herd’s tight ends coach and in his first year as Holliday’s recruiting coordinator. “We’ve tried to do a better job with the high school coaches in-state and in the metro area.
Marshall releases some times, television for 2013 football schedule
Written by WOODY WOODRUM, Herd Insider PublisherHUNTINGTON — Marshall fans can start marking their calendars for the 2013 football season as Conference USA released five of 12 start times for this season with Tuesday’s release of Conference USA’s composite television schedule.
CBS Sports Network (CBSSN) and Fox Sports Net (FSN) will have three Herd games each, while Comcast Sports South (CSS) will broadcast Marshall’s Nov. 9 game vs. UAB.
CBSSN will have three of the Herd’s home games this season, including the program’s 7 p.m. (all times eastern) season opener vs. long time Marshall rival, the Mid-American Conference’s Miami-Ohio, on Aug. 31.
Also released were the Herd’s Nov. 2 date vs. Southern Miss, a 12:30 p.m. kickoff on CBSSN and the regular season finale, for the third year in a row on Thanksgiving Friday at 2 p.m. against East Carolina.
Marshall trails in the all-time series against Miami-Ohio’s RedHawks, 30-10-1, but has won six of the last seven meetings, back to 2004 when MU was also in the MAC.
The Thundering Word: Football fund boosting Herd salaries, and more
Written by Jack BOGACZYK, HI EditorHUNTINGTON – When Mike Hamrick returned to his alma mater as athletic director in July 2009, one of his first moves was to make the bottom line a top-of-the-line priority.
So, one of Hamrick’s early decisions at Marshall was to seek donors to a Football Enhancement Fund.
Nearly four years later, the fund “is really serving its purpose,” Hamrick said. “It’s doing what we’d hoped it would do.”
Just one indication of that is a recent hike in football staff salaries, with Coach Doc Holliday having to hire seven on-field assistants (one stayed for 10 days) and a strength and conditioning coach this offseason.
“We’re doing better,” Hamrick said. “Assistant coaches’ salaries here have been very detrimental to us in the past.
“With what we’ve added, we’re just trying to keep up, to catch up.
“We’re still just trying to catch up, because we were so far behind, even though we aren’t trying to be USC or Alabama.”
The Thundering Word: Heater likes what has sprouted green (and white) during spring
Written by Jack BOGACZYK, HI EditorHUNTINGTON — Chuck Heater has seen enough … for now, anyway.
The new Marshall defensive coordinator emerged from spring practice with optimism sprinkled with realism about the unit Thundering Herd football needs upgraded in a big, big way in 2013.
Last season, there were 124 Football Bowl Subdivision programs.
With a 5-7 record, the Herd ranked thusly: 123 (scoring defense), 105 (rush defense), 103 (total defense) and 94 (pass defense). Marshall was 99th in opponent third-down conversions.
That’s why Coach Doc Holliday brought in his former Florida staff sidekick, Heater, to run the defense and coach the secondary.
By all accounts, Holliday got the right guy, and throughout the spring Heater’s players played as well as talked a good game as they adapted to the aggressive new scheme and packages.
Thundering Herd wraps up spring with annual G-W Game
Written by From staff, media reports and HI photographer Greg K. PerryHUNTINGTON — It doesn’t count for 2013— unless improved defense and more of the same with one of the nation’s top offenses doesn’t count as getting you excited as a Thundering Herd football fans.
Coach Doc Holliday has his team put on a show on Saturday at the Joan C. Edwards Stadium, and from the coaching staff to the fanbase, it was a first step in the right direction of playing for a Conference USA championship, a bowl game and bringing winning football back to starving fans of the Kelly Green and White.
Marshall’s offense won the Annual Green-White Spring Football Game, 53-38, with points awarded for touchdowns, first downs, turnovers, stopping drives, sacks, big plays, etc. in a scoring system developed by Holliday's staff.
Alternating the first and second strings, the offense scored touchdowns in half of its 10 possessions.
While starters like junior to-be quarterback Rakeem Cato and receiver Tommy Shuler, along with senior captain and defensive end Jeremiah Taylor and other starters either did not play at all or played sparingly, it was all part of the plan for the final of 15 practices.
The Thundering Word: Mitchell moves up, opens eyes
Written by JACK BOGACZYK, HI EditorHUNTINGTON — As spring football drills ended for Marshall with Saturday’s Green-White intrasquad scrimmage, the new honest-to-goodness contributors who offer promise for an improved defense in 2013 take two hands to count.
Stefan Houston, Corey Tindal, Taj Letman, Shawn Samuels, A.J. Leggett, Joe Massaquoi … I could go on.
There’s an old hand at something new, too, for Coach Doc Holliday’s team.
As much as anyone, redshirt senior Derek Mitchell is a poster boy for the revamped Marshall defense.
He was moved by defensive coordinator Chuck Heater from safety to strongside linebacker on the first day of spring workouts.
But most important to Mitchell and the Herd, the erstwhile walk-on from Point Pleasant is on the field for more than special teams play.
The Thundering Word: Dobson, Patriots a second-round match in “Herd Heaven”
Written by JACK BOGACZYK, HI EditorHUNTINGTON — Apparently, there’s something about Marshall wide receivers and the New England Patriots.
Aaron Dobson is going where fellow former Herd stars wideouts Troy Brown and Randy Moss have gone before, after New England made Dobson the 59th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft on Friday night.
Dobson didn’t have to wait long for his second-round selection, celebrating with his family in Dunbar and viewing the NFL Draft telecast only two hours before his name was called.
“It’s exciting, really exciting, and getting to share this night with my family is so special,” Dobson said Friday night from his parents’ home in Dunbar, where he said about 40 family members and friends had assembled.
“The dream came true, and I’m so honored to be drafted by a great organization like New England. Marshall gave me an opportunity and now I have another opportunity.
“We definitely knew the Patriots were very interested in me, but when the call came, it was just so special.”
Dobson becomes the 38th selection from Marshall in NFL Draft history, and the 15th Herd player picked since 2000.
Nine of those 15 have been selected in the first three rounds.