MORGANTOWN — To quote that noted philosopher, B. Bunny:
“Eh … What’s up, Doc?”
Seems that the man with the gunslinger’s name, John “Doc” Holliday, is on track to be Marshall’s next head football coach, replacing Mark Snyder, who resigned a couple of weeks ago rather than be fired.
Holliday is in his second tenure at West Virginia University as an assistant coach, serving the tri-role of Associate Head Coach, a position that has no definition; Director of Recruiting and assistant coach in charge of tight ends and fullbacks.
A number of media outlets reported Wednesday that Holliday had left Florida, which he has claimed as his own private gold mine for recruiting, to return to Huntington to work out final details on a contract. A source said that virtually all that is left is working out his staff and what it will be paid.
Holliday became the No. 1 candidate when another former WVU assistant, Butch Jones, who had taken over the Central Michigan program when Brian Kelly jumped to Cincinnati and kept it on a winning track, was named to replace Kelly at Cincinnati.
Jones was the leading candidate for the Marshall job until Kelly moved to Notre Dame, opening up the Bearcat position.
Holliday has a long history with Marshall athletic director Mike Hamrick, going back to their high school days. Holliday is from Hurricane and Hamrick from Clendenin. He attended Herbert Hoover High when Holliday was at Hurricane.
Reports came out back in 2003 when Steve Logan was fired at East Carolina that Hamrick, then the A.D. at ECU wanted to hire Holliday as his next head coach but was overruled by the administration, who went for Skip Holtz.
Holliday was a long-time assistant at West Virginia under Don Nehlen and actually is credited with being a pioneer in mining the rich talent lode that there is in Florida.
In 2000, when it became clear that Nehlen was about to retire and when all signals pointed to Rich Rodriguez being named as replacement, Holliday beat the train out of town and signed on with Chuck Amato as associate head coach and wide receivers coach at North Carolina State.
He stayed there through 2004 when Urban Meyer brought him to Florida as associate head coach and safeties coach, winning a national championship ring.
Although he has coached since 1979 when he was a graduate assistant, Holliday has never been a head coach.
He came close a few times to landing a head coach job, reportedly losing out to Snyder for the Marshall job and being the second choice behind Stewart, when he was named to replace Rodriguez following the Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma.
Holliday opted to come to West Virginia, being given a contract for $406,000, which made him one of the nation’s highest paid assistant coaches.
If the deal is worked out, it isn’t known if any of WVU’s coaches will join Holliday in Marshall. The most likely to go would be Steve Dunlap, who is a long-time WVU assistant but who also has worked at Marshall and who would like to be a defensive coordinator again. He currently coaches safeties at WVU and holds the title of assistant head coach.
Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Holliday on track for Marshall position
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