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I think I understand why we are where we are..

Jun 28, 2007
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I waited awhile for all the moves to be made before I stepped back and looked at what happened and how I feel about it. Indulge me when I go through these one by one.
Charles Huff - I am glad he came here, happy for what he was able to accomplish. Seemed to run a clean program, always wanted to be in control of everything. I liked some things about him, and I think he may have learned a few things about what weren't his best traits. I believe he came here for good reasons for the Herd and for himself. I suspect he and we, will be happier with him being at SoMiss. So in effect, it is a good situation. Good luck to him except when we play them. I am sure he must have worked hard here to get us to a championships level. I do thank him for that.
Tony Gibson - I know his career and I am happy he chose to come to us. Some longtime assistants are great at becoming HC's while others struggle with change. I think he will be a little tougher than he appeared in his media day event. His immediate challenge is the portal, more in gaining outsiders than retaining players. The current good ones will get nice offers from bigger schools. The average ones may find it better just to stay here. I doubt he will get into a bargaining game with this group. The timing of any success will depend a great deal on his assistants, and his connections. For example, he may ask a coach at an ACC school just how good or bad is a player in the portal from that school. As they will respect him, he should be able to get some very good feedback from a lot of coaches. I believe that the JMU-Indiana success won't happen a lot, where a HC moved to a HC at a bigger school and brought along almost a whole starting lineup. For that reason I think it may take a few years for Coach Gibson to get back to championship level. I have no expectations of immediate success. Maybe .500 but winning those close games is now the challenge for most teams.
Christian Spears - I suspect he is very happy as he may feel that he has gained some control over the program. I think he, and Marshall, did not handle the media very well. No matter what he says now, or explains to us, the negative stuff never overcomes the good or correct news. But, in many ways his hands were tied as we were winning and everyone inside knew what was going to happen, win or lose. In my experience, major schools HC's report to the AD for budgets and personnel issues, but for job security and evaluation, it is the President, and indirectly or directly, the Board that decides on HC's life. I hope he has great success here, as I do believe his job is more about dollars for the very immediate and longer term future.
All of us - We Are Marshall and we get to celebrate an amazing "comeback" year. Forget the bowl, they are now meaningless TV shows that only resemble how good or bad your team was this year. I can wear Marshall gear knowing we won a lot of close games. Did we fall apart in at least one loss? Sure, but the rest of the way our team played as if they understood why we love the Herd. I do wish there was less banter on here about who is right, who is wrong, who is smart, etc. It is a message board, not a living room. I believe that if some of our posters knew each other better in real life, they might just see a little more eye to eye. I think what we often see here is an outgrowth of how much we care about Marshall. It is pure passion about wanting to win. Our suffering was so strong, so long, and hurt so deep, that no one can expect us to sit back and watch and not get up and cheer on the Herd, or be totally miffed and quiet when we see things we think are going wrong. I have a few friends in Huntington that some of you may think have been a problem, but I will guarantee you that their love for the Herd knows no bounds.
I apologize for the length of this run-on, but as I said, there is no stopping us when we care about the Herd.
 
CH - Not a good person. The cabal went around the AD and hired this disloyal guy, who CS states "was looking for a job when I got here". A proper search, conducted by an AD would have weeded him out early, but the Doc haters ran their little coup. And the sorry state our program is in, notwithstanding a paper tiger victory by playing no one good, is the result.

TG - A+ hire. He wants to be here. He says he has bought his last house. Given a few years to make things right, he will do great. 100% the right man for the job.

CS - To the degree that CS, and not BS, got Coach, then good job. I still have my doubts. Doubt he really was the decision maker. Doubts about the way the "coach in waiting" basketball deal was done in secret. Doubt about the baseball coup. But football is 90% of the job, and this is an A+ hire.

All of us - The true fans never bought into CH's crap. All of the sanctimony, preachiness, and condescension. We wanted him gone, and, after years of trying and failing to get even an interview for a step up, took a side step, really a step down. We enjoy the season and will put the trophy in the case, but, really, we dodged all the good teams in the league. We won't be given a schedule like that again. We are ready to move on with a coach who wants to be here.
 
Sam, Very good points. It does bring up a genuine dilemma in college sports today. What criteria are you going to judge HC's? How much on W-L's, how much on their personality, how much on their behavior, and how much on the situation they are in (funds, etc).?
What it going on is that it looks like almost everyone is using the chance of more W's as the benchmark. Forget their attitudes, their girlfriends.
I can't judge whether CH was a good person or not. I would agree that he always wanted to be in control of everything, including our attitudes. I can't agree our program is in a sorry state. I would say that it is in a turning point that could turn into a sorry state very fast. A lot of If's. The portal in, the portal out, budget, new assistants, attendance.
With the success of football and soccer, our total athletic program is in a dangerously fragile state right now. The AD needs to find a way to shore up these programs that will struggle to even get close to .500.
The most over-estimated value in college sports is staff loyalty. Three reasons. Money, money, and money. On the top side, if a better deal comes along, almost everyone leaves. If CS got a much better offer from another school, he'd likely be on the plane the same day. On the low side, there are so many young people trying to get into college sports that departments can low-ball entry level people with little experience. Or you can hire non-revenue coaches that have little options for below market prices. The third money reason is that the pressure to raise funds and manage budgets often creates, maybe always creates high expectations from the donors and the fans bases.

One last comment, not directed at just you. I hate the term true fans. I don't know what it really means. Does a true fan have to attend every game? Or give lots of money? Or just care whether we win or lose? I like to think in terms of supporters and fans. Supporters attend games, give money when they can. Fans simply pull for the Herd to win every game.
 
CH - Not a good person. The cabal went around the AD and hired this disloyal guy, who CS states "was looking for a job when I got here". A proper search, conducted by an AD would have weeded him out early, but the Doc haters ran their little coup. And the sorry state our program is in, notwithstanding a paper tiger victory by playing no one good, is the result.

TG - A+ hire. He wants to be here. He says he has bought his last house. Given a few years to make things right, he will do great. 100% the right man for the job.

CS - To the degree that CS, and not BS, got Coach, then good job. I still have my doubts. Doubt he really was the decision maker. Doubts about the way the "coach in waiting" basketball deal was done in secret. Doubt about the baseball coup. But football is 90% of the job, and this is an A+ hire.

All of us - The true fans never bought into CH's crap. All of the sanctimony, preachiness, and condescension. We wanted him gone, and, after years of trying and failing to get even an interview for a step up, took a side step, really a step down. We enjoy the season and will put the trophy in the case, but, really, we dodged all the good teams in the league. We won't be given a schedule like that again. We are ready to move on with a coach who wants to be here.


How's New Mexico looking?
 
04 - stop 💩on every thread! This isn’t “Hefd 04’s Nation”, It’s Herd Nation. Don’t be a douche, and you will probably earn more respect for your opinions…
 
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"A proper search, conducted by an AD "
Was there a "proper search" done for the newest hire?
 
CH - Not a good person. The cabal went around the AD and hired this disloyal guy, who CS states "was looking for a job when I got here". A proper search, conducted by an AD would have weeded him out early, but the Doc haters ran their little coup. And the sorry state our program is in, notwithstanding a paper tiger victory by playing no one good, is the result.

TG - A+ hire. He wants to be here. He says he has bought his last house. Given a few years to make things right, he will do great. 100% the right man for the job.

CS - To the degree that CS, and not BS, got Coach, then good job. I still have my doubts. Doubt he really was the decision maker. Doubts about the way the "coach in waiting" basketball deal was done in secret. Doubt about the baseball coup. But football is 90% of the job, and this is an A+ hire.

All of us - The true fans never bought into CH's crap. All of the sanctimony, preachiness, and condescension. We wanted him gone, and, after years of trying and failing to get even an interview for a step up, took a side step, really a step down. We enjoy the season and will put the trophy in the case, but, really, we dodged all the good teams in the league. We won't be given a schedule like that again. We are ready to move on with a coach who wants to be here.
How can we be assured TG is a A+ hire? That's TBD. He has his work cut out for him, hiring a good staff, keeping some kids, working the portal. I too like that he wants to be here, but we'll what happens. Gotta support him.
 
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How can we be assured TG is a A+ hire? That's TBD. He has his work cut out for him, hiring a good staff, keeping some kids, working the portal. I too like that he wants to be here, but we'll what happens. Gotta support him.

Because Sam's takes are so bad, they gotta be good!
 
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How can we be assured TG is a A+ hire? That's TBD.
In the world of HR, you should know if someone is a great hire on day one. You find someone who has all the qualities you need.

It may, or may not, work out, but still the HR guy, aka CS, did his work. Work the self-appointed cabal did not do last time, ending up with a disloyal .600 guy who hated all of us.
 
I suspect Brad Smith had strong input on this hire. And I have come to trust Brad's judgment. Compared to the resumes of Doc and Huff, Tony's is impressive. I am optimistic about this hire!!
 
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