HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick introduced John "Doc" Holliday as the Thundering Herd's 29th head football coach Thursday.
Holliday, a Hurricane W.Va. native, is widely regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation and he brings with him 31 years of collegiate coaching experience to Marshall that includes stops at Florida, N.C. State and West Virginia.
"This was an extensive search. I looked at a lot of head coaches, coordinators and others and I could not convince myself of anyone that was better for this job than Doc Holliday," Hamrick said. "He is a state native that understands and has a passion for this state and I am excited to have him as our head football coach."
During his coaching career, Holliday has coached in 20 bowl games, three national championship games and coached 11 players that have gone on to the National Football League. He has also coached four All-Americans and 16 student-athletes that have earned all-conference or All-East honors.
"My ultimate goal has always been to be a Division I head football coach at a major university and to have this opportunity at Marshall, a school rich in tradition and full of potential, is a dream come true," Holliday said.
Holliday comes to Marshall after serving as associate head coach at West Virginia for the past two seasons where he also served as the director of recruiting while coaching tight ends and fullbacks for the Mountaineers. Rivals.com has named him one of the Top 25 recruiters in the nation and he helped WVU amass a 2009 recruiting class that was nationally ranked No. 22 by Scout.com and No. 27 by Rivals.com.
Prior to that, he worked as the associate head coach and safeties coach at the University of Florida from 2005 to 2007 and as the associate head coach and wide receivers coach at North Carolina State University from 2000-04.
"I wish to extend my sincere congratulations to Coach Doc Holliday, his wife Diana and his family on becoming the Head Football Coach at Marshall University," Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer said. "Coach Holliday was an integral part of our staff for three years including the 2006 BCS National Championship and his son Cade has been an outstanding part of our team for the past five years."
During his tenure at Florida, the Gators won the 2006 National Championship and the UF secondary led the SEC in interceptions in both 2005 and 2006. He also coached two All-SEC standouts Reggie Nelson and Major Wright. At N.C. State, he coached three of the top eight receivers in Wolfpack history (Koren Robinson, Bryan Peterson and Jerricho Cotchery) and the 2003 N.C. State team set six different school-records for passing including yards, yards per game, passing touchdowns and completion percentage.
He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1979 and went on to serve in a variety of coaching positions at his alma mater that included serving as the wide receivers coach from 1983-1989 and again from 1993-1999, the inside linebackers coach from 1990-92 and as the assistant head coach from 1995-99.
Holliday was a three-year letter-winner at linebacker at West Virginia (1976-78) and has earned both a bachelor's degree (1979) and a master's degree (1981) from WVU. He and his wife Diana have four children - Meghan, Cade, Chase and Cody.
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