WV Governor 'concerned' that Marshall 'is not progressing anything like WVU'
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (D) said Thursday that he’s “concerned” about what he sees as a lack of progress by Marshall’s football program.
According to multiple reports, Justice has met with Marshall officials twice since December and has reportedly advocated for a coaching change. Justice is friends with former Marshall coach Bobby Pruett and would like to have Pruett coach again in place of current coach Doc Holliday.
“I’m friends with Doc, I’m friends with [athletic director] Mike Hamrick and everything, I’m you know, I’m friends with [Marshall president] Jerry Gilbert,” Justice said on TV station WSAZ. “I think Marshall … I am really concerned that Marshall is not progressing anything like WVU.”
Justice reportedly first met with Gilbert to advocate for a coaching change in December. He then met with members of the school’s board of governors in March and, according to the WV Metro News and the Charleston Gazette-Mail, advocated for the three aforementioned men to be replaced.
Marshall was 3-9 in 2016 after three-straight 10+ win seasons. Has anyone told the governor that progress isn’t linear? Holliday is 53-37 in seven years with the school.
Pruett, meanwhile, was the team’s coachwhen Byron Leftwich, Randy Moss and Chad Pennington were at Marshall. In eight years at the school he compiled a 79-23 record. But his last season was in 2004 and he hasn’t been an FBS head coach since. The transition may not be as seamless as Justice may be thinking.
West Virginia, meanwhile, has had three-straight seasons above .500 since a 4-8 year in 2013. But it wasn’t that long ago that the status of WVU coach Dana Holgorsen wasn’t certain. The school even went so far as to announce that Holgorsen would return for 2016 after a 7-5 regular season in 2015.
Holliday said Thursday after practice that the whole situation regarding the governor was “sad.”
“I’m sad. I think it’s sad, to be honest with you,” Holliday said via the Herald-Dispatch. “Sad day for everybody. That being said, I’m only concerned about this football team and my job is to lead this football team – be around these kids, love these kids, get them better – and become a better football team. That’s the only thing I’m worried about.”
The Herald Dispatch also notes that two days after Justice’s March meeting was “Marshall day” at the West Virginia Capitol and Justice went on record with the paper during Marshall Day “saying he wanted Marshall back to its glory days while bringing up former football coach and longtime friend Bob Pruett in the process.”
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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!
