Do you know what Cam Henderson, Jim Donnan and Bob Pruett have in common? They all served as Marshall’s head football coach for fewer games than Doc Holliday, who announced today he won’t be returning next season. And while you might bristle at Holliday’s winning percentage (.617) and amount of conference championships (one), the Hurricane native’s long run in the Shewey Building was unprecedented.
Consider this, only one FBS head coach hired between the 2009 and 2010 football seasons, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, remains in the same job. For comparisons sake, during the decade Holliday patrolled Marshall’s sideline, Lane Kiffin served as head coach at USC, Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss, plus a two season stint under Nick Saban at Alabama.
So who will be the Thundering Herd’s next football coach? A better question might be who is making the selection. According to one report, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and the University’s Board of Governors went around athletic director Mike Hamrick and decided not to retain Holliday.
While that subject probably needs its own deep dive, we’re going to focus on candidates to replace Holliday.
From the NFL
1. Byron Leftwich, Offensive Coordinator, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Any Marshall coaching search figures to start, and potentially end with one of the Thundering Herd’s most prolific quarterbacks. Since hanging up his helmet following the 2012 NFL season, Leftwich has been an assistant with the Arizona Cardinals and Buccaneers. Under Leftwich’s direction, Tampa Bay’s offense finished third in total yards and scored the fourth most points in the league last season. Now with future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady at the helm, Leftwich has the Buccaneers ranked seventh in total offense.
Although Leftwich has never coached at the college level, and seems destined to become an NFL head coach one day, could the pull of his alma mater bring him to Huntington?
2. Mike Furry, Wide Receivers Coach, Chicago Bears – The former Marshall wide receivers coach has a unique story. Following a record breaking college career at Northern Iowa, Furry spent time as a wide receiver and defensive back in the XFL and Arena Football League. Signed by the St. Louis Rams in 2003, he continued playing both offense and defense. Eventually, Furry settled in at wide receiver with Detroit, leading the Lions with 98 receptions in 2006.
Although Furry’s been a NFL assistant coach since 2018, he has extensive college experience. In addition to three seasons under Holliday at Marshall, Furry was head coach at Kentucky Christian University (2011-2012) and Limestone College (2016-2017).
3. Thomas Brown, Running Backs Coach, Los Angeles Rams – The current Ram’s assistant has worked at an impressive list of schools since his single season as Marshall’s running backs coach. From 2014 to 2019, Brown tutored running backs at Wisconsin, Georgia, Miami and South Carolina. At Miami, Brown was also Mark Richt’s offensive coordinator, although he didn’t have play calling responsibilities.
After a year working under one of the NFL’s foremost offensive minds, Rams head coach Sean McVay, is the longtime assistant ready to lead his own college program?
College Head Coaches
4. Sean Lewis, Head Coach, Kent State – From 2013-2017, Paul Hayes won nine conference games as Kent’s head football coach. Enter Lewis, who took helm of the Golden Flashes football program in 2018 and over three seasons has a winning record in Mid-American Conference play. He also led Kent to their first ever bowl win and a 3-1 mark this season.
Lewis has no Marshall ties, having played or coached at Wisconsin, Eastern Illinois, Bowling Green, Syracuse and the aforementioned Kent State. Wage wise he is earning $440,000 a year, which is dramatically less than Holliday’s most recent salary. That being said, per the USA Today college coach’s salary database, Lewis has a $750,000 buyout.
5. Kevin Sumlin, former Head Coach, Arizona – Yes, his time with the Wildcats was bad, 9-20 over three season’s bad. Things were better at Texas A&M, but a 25-23 record against Southeastern Conference competition and zero division titles in six years wasn’t enough to keep Sumlin employed with the Aggies.
Although Sumlin failed at bigger programs, he was wildly successful in Conference USA. During a four season stint as Houston’s head coach, the Cougars qualified for two league championship games and only suffered eight losses to conference foes.
College Coordinators
6. Brad Lambert, Defensive Coordinator, Marshall University – Could Holliday’s replacement already be on staff? Lambert interviewed for the Marshall job in 2009 and figures to be a strong candidate again after re-launching Charlotte’s football program and two impressive seasons leading the Herd's defense.
But what do you make of Lambert’s time at Charlotte? He was let go in 2018 after posting a 22-48 record over six seasons, including an 8-24 record against C-USA competition. That being said, when Lambert was hired by the 49ers in March of 2011, no one thought Charlotte would be playing FBS football 2½ years later.
7. Adam Fuller, Defensive Coordinator, Florida State – Plucked by Holliday from The University of Tennessee Chattanooga prior to the 2013 season, Fuller served as the Thundering Herd’s linebackers coach for four years before being appointed defensive coordinator in 2018. During the 2018 season, Fuller helped Marshall finish second among C-USA schools in total defense.
Hired away by Memphis, Fuller and the Tigers completed an undefeated regular season and captured the 2019 American Athletic Conference championship. Fuller joined Mike Norvell’s staff in Tallahassee when the former Memphis head coach was named to the same position at Florida State.
In addition to serving as an assistant at Wagner, Richmond, Chattanooga, Marshall, Memphis and Florida State, Fuller was head coach at Division II Assumption College in 2008.
8. Tony Petersen, Offensive Coordinator, Illinois – Former Marshall quarterback, Thundering Herd assistant under three different head coaches (Donnan, Pruett, Holliday) and an offensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech, East Carolina and Appalachian State. Not to mention additional coaching stints with Minnesota, Iowa State and South Dakota.
In December, new Fighting Illini coach Bret Bielema hired Petersen away from Appalachian State to be his offensive coordinator.
Petersen is entering his fourth decade as a college football coach, yet unlike Fuller and Lambert, he has never lead his own program. Lack of head coaching experience didn’t stop Hamrick from hiring Holliday ten years ago, could he do the same with Petersen?
9. Gerard Parker, Offensive Coordinator, WVU – What are the chances Parker travels the same path Holliday blazed from Morgantown to Huntington?
Raised less than an hour away from Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Louisa, KY, Parker was Marshall’s wide receivers coach in 2011 and 2012 before leaving for Purdue. Following Darrell Hazell’s dismissal with six games remaining in the 2016 season, Parker was named the Boilermakers interim head coach, finishing the year 0-6.
Prior to being appointed offensive coordinator at WVU, he served as wide receivers coach with Duke and Penn State.
Parker does have a blemish on his record. He plead guilty to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in West Lafayette, IN. The incident, which occurred in February of 2017, cost Parker an opportunity to serve as an assistant at East Carolina.
College Assistants
10. Gunter Brewer, Wide Receivers Coach, Louisville – If you’re looking for a Holliday esque hire, look no further than this former Herd assistant. Similar to Holliday before he was hired at Marshall, the 56 year-old Brewer has been an assistant coach for over 30 years. In addition to working under Pruett in Huntington, Brewer’s held jobs at Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, North Carolina and Louisville. He was also the Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers coach for a season.
Is it time to bring Brewer back to his former stomping grounds? From 1996-1999 he was part of a 1-AA National Championship, three Mid-American Conference titles and two undefeated seasons with the Thundering Herd.
Someone the Writer would Consider
11. Matt Canada, Quarterbacks Coach, Pittsburgh Steelers – I’ve been keeping an eye on Canada since he was appointed interim head coach at Maryland in 2018. As you might recall, Canada replaced the suspended DJ Durkin, who was eventually fired over the death of Jordan McNair, a victim of heatstroke suffered during a team workout.
Coaching under the cloud of McNair’s passing, Canada lead the Terps to five wins, including a season opening victory over Texas. Maryland almost got its sixth win that season against No. 9 Ohio State, but an overtime two point conversion pass by current Western Kentucky quarterback Tyrell Pigrome sailed wide of an open wide receiver.
In addition to his time at Maryland, Canada served as offensive coordinator at Indiana, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, NC State, Pittsburgh and LSU. At Pitt, he was a 2016 finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the top assistant coach in college football.
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