I mean when you're at our level it's all we have really. We have to choose from guys that don't have resumes that guarantee success. Dipping into the lower levels is the only way to get someone with actual experience as a winning coach. We're not luring away FBS winning coaches and the top coordinators aren't coming to Marshall level programs. Either because they have better options or we just can't afford them.Blows my mind we fall for some guys based on titles or what they supposedly did. It's like we never dig deep. When you let boosters and other high profile coaches push their candidates and you hire them - you deserve what you get. I admire JMU, they actually seem to do a thorough search when looking for coaches. Jmho
So we try to take a a gamble on guys. College football is not like it was in the late 80s to early 90s so the days of pulling a Jim Donnan aren't happening and Pruett was just the perfect storm. Former player that was a coordinator for a championship program. I believe we were hoping Snyder would be a repeat of that, but he was in over his head. Yes I know certain parties forced the issue with him, but he was a former player who was coaching for a national championship caliber program. Had he half a clue at what he was doing then he would have been a good hire that would have been here a while, but he didn't and he wasn't.
Doc was local and connected to the AD. You knew he'd be committed and honestly by and large he wasn't the horrible coach many made him out to be. Still underachieved and we needed to move on and probably sooner than we did, but he and Hamrick for that matter brought expectations back to the program that Snyder and Marcum eroded away.
Now the Huff hire was what most everyone wanted to see. A hire from outside the "Marshall family". At first it looked like it was good. Said all the right things, opened up with compete destruction of NAVY and peaked with the win over ND. Sadly, much like Snyder he's been in over his head. He's managed his staff pretty badly and his recruiting ability was vastly overblown. No need to be made about it or question motives from 4 years ago. Just time to admit that Huff didn't work out (assuming he falls short this year too) and move on. We have new leadership from top to bottom and it's time to see how capable they are. What coaches does Spears have in his Rolodex? How much savvy can our successful businessman president bring to the negotiating table with prospective candidates?
Now if we extend Huff for anything less than a championship then forget all of them and start writing the eulogy of the program because that would be an acknowledgement that the administration does not believe that Marshall can compete in today's landscape of FBS CFB.