After yesterday's game (and the game before that) (and the game before that), fans have been quick to call for Doc's job. I would entreaty folks not to judge Coach Holliday on these few losses, and rather look at his entire body of work. Therein you will find the most valid reason for Marshall to cut ties.
Looking back at 11 years, the only thing I can say conclusively about the coaching accumen of John "Doc" Holliday is that he cannot build a lasting structure, even within the context of his own tenure. He came in at the turn of the decade and took over a program that had been mired in five years of absolute failure, that had only a minimal uptick in momentum after beating Ohio U in a bowl game. He had a QB in Brian Anderson that is probably a fantastic Tax Accountant or something. (Maybe even a great Dad too at this point, so if you're reading this Brian, I love you buddy.)
Marshall took its lumps as the Holliday program was built, and after a rocky first three years, Junior Rakeem Cato lead Marshall to its most successful campaign in years in 2013, and things were headed in the right direction. The following year we tore through C-USA on our way to a title, and down on the field that cold, wet, rainy December day, I truly believed we were back to our old form.
It lasted a year and a half.
In 2017, we started the rebuild of the rebuild, bringing in the talented if mercurial Isaiah Green, and building a strong defense that would prove to be the best in the league. Each year we seemed to build a little bit more and a little more, and headed into 2020 we had every reason to think a senior-laden team would make major waves in CFB. We had the best schedule we'd had in forever, it was the 50th anniversary of the plane crash, and all the stars were aligning.
Then that old bastard Undisclosed Reasons came back to bite us, and our three-year starter at QB was no more. Next up, a pandemic ravaged our schedule, but that would actually seem to be a salve, since we were breaking in a Freshman QB. It looked like things were still golden, going 7-0 against some of the best and brightest teams the bottom 10% of FBS has to offer, but then the wheels came off.
Turns out, Doc Holliday's Marshall v2.0 had only lasted three years after all, we really were rebuilding, and v2.5 would last all of seven games before imploding.
Doc's a mad scientist that can get the formula almost right, but then it boils over and explodes, spraying broken glass and little burned chunks of viscera everywhere. Poor ol' Janitor Joe has to get out there with his mop and start cleaning, and we start the process of rebuilding the lab again. Again. Again.
Thesis: There is no reason whatsoever to believe a coach who can't build a stable program under his own guidance would be able to build such a program that could be handed off to someone else. If we bring him back, it only delays the next rebuild, and we have no way of knowing what will be dripping from the rafters of the laboratory for Joe to mop up when its over.
(Appendix: Prayer to Yahweh, God of Abraham - Please God please let all this subterfuge and chicanery have been the result of Doc's paranoia, and not a cover for a deep regimen of cheating that will get us penalized back to the stone age when he leaves, Amen)
Looking back at 11 years, the only thing I can say conclusively about the coaching accumen of John "Doc" Holliday is that he cannot build a lasting structure, even within the context of his own tenure. He came in at the turn of the decade and took over a program that had been mired in five years of absolute failure, that had only a minimal uptick in momentum after beating Ohio U in a bowl game. He had a QB in Brian Anderson that is probably a fantastic Tax Accountant or something. (Maybe even a great Dad too at this point, so if you're reading this Brian, I love you buddy.)
Marshall took its lumps as the Holliday program was built, and after a rocky first three years, Junior Rakeem Cato lead Marshall to its most successful campaign in years in 2013, and things were headed in the right direction. The following year we tore through C-USA on our way to a title, and down on the field that cold, wet, rainy December day, I truly believed we were back to our old form.
It lasted a year and a half.
In 2017, we started the rebuild of the rebuild, bringing in the talented if mercurial Isaiah Green, and building a strong defense that would prove to be the best in the league. Each year we seemed to build a little bit more and a little more, and headed into 2020 we had every reason to think a senior-laden team would make major waves in CFB. We had the best schedule we'd had in forever, it was the 50th anniversary of the plane crash, and all the stars were aligning.
Then that old bastard Undisclosed Reasons came back to bite us, and our three-year starter at QB was no more. Next up, a pandemic ravaged our schedule, but that would actually seem to be a salve, since we were breaking in a Freshman QB. It looked like things were still golden, going 7-0 against some of the best and brightest teams the bottom 10% of FBS has to offer, but then the wheels came off.
Turns out, Doc Holliday's Marshall v2.0 had only lasted three years after all, we really were rebuilding, and v2.5 would last all of seven games before imploding.
Doc's a mad scientist that can get the formula almost right, but then it boils over and explodes, spraying broken glass and little burned chunks of viscera everywhere. Poor ol' Janitor Joe has to get out there with his mop and start cleaning, and we start the process of rebuilding the lab again. Again. Again.
Thesis: There is no reason whatsoever to believe a coach who can't build a stable program under his own guidance would be able to build such a program that could be handed off to someone else. If we bring him back, it only delays the next rebuild, and we have no way of knowing what will be dripping from the rafters of the laboratory for Joe to mop up when its over.
(Appendix: Prayer to Yahweh, God of Abraham - Please God please let all this subterfuge and chicanery have been the result of Doc's paranoia, and not a cover for a deep regimen of cheating that will get us penalized back to the stone age when he leaves, Amen)
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