West Virginia governor reportedly trying to making coaching change at Marshall
Is the governor of West Virginia attempting to use his position as the head of the state to remove Masrshall coach Doc Holliday from his job?
According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail citing unnamed sources, Gov. Jim Justice (D) wants Holliday out of his job and former Marshall coach Bobby Pruett installed as the team’s head coach. Oh, Pruett and Justice are friends, in case you were wondering.
Per the report, Justice met with school president Jerome Gilbert in December. Justice’s office said the meeting was about the school attempting to “do something to get yourself back to greatness” while Gilbert told the paper he should refrain from commenting that it was “unfortunate that this information got out.”
There was reportedly another meeting on March 28, this time involving five members of the school’s board of governors. And Gilbert himself was a target in it. From the Gazette-Mail:
Again, Justice reportedly asked the board members to get rid of Holliday.
Justice also asked the board members to fire Gilbert and Athletic Director Mike Hamrick, the man responsible for hiring Holliday, according to the Gazette-Mail’s source.
Neither Pruett nor Hamrick responded to the Gazette-Mail’s requests for comment Wednesday evening.
Who’d have thought West Virginia would be the state with a governor trying to oust a football coach? We would have bet heavily on a state with an SEC football school, though it’s clear that now-former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) had other things than football on his mind while he was governing.
Pruett was the team’s coach from 1997-2004. He led the team to six-straight bowl appearances and an undefeated 13-0 season in 1999 with Chad Pennington as the team’s quarterback. He also coached quarterback Byron Leftwich and wide receiver Randy Moss.
While Justice wants to help out a friend and presumably bring Marshall football back to the “glory days” of Pruett’s tenure, attempts to oust Holliday seem a bit premature. Yes, Marshall was 3-9 in 2016, but the Herd was a combined 33-8 in the previous three seasons. A non-Power Five school making a coaching change in a scenario like that seems incredibly absurd. But so does the governor getting directly involved in the hiring and firing decisions in a case like this.
Justice was elected the state’s governor in November. A coal magnate, he’s the owner of the Greenbrier resort in the state. The Greenbrier hosts an annual PGA Tour event and recently hosted the New Orleans Saints training camp.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
