HUNTINGTON, W.Va.– Doc Holliday and his staff will tune out the rest of the world over the next few days and prepare for the start of the 2013 season, which comes with the most optimism and expectations since Holliday’s first season as head coach. With nearly everyone back on offense, including the reigning Conference USA Most Valuable Player, a new defensive coordinator and a more favorable schedule Herd fans won’t settle for anything less than contending for the league title.
“I enjoy high expectations,” insists Holliday. “I don’t want to be anywhere that expectations aren’t extremely high.”
As the coaches retreat to an undisclosed location for the annual Coaches Camp they know the expectations, preseason accolades and potential will mean nothing if The Herd falls short this year. Holliday says the players know they have to hold up their end of the deal once the games start.
“They’ve got to understand that expectations and potential mean absolutely nothing. You’ve got to produce on the field. It’s all about production and getting it done.
“We’ll make sure they know those expectations out there are a good thing. Everybody must think we’ve got a chance to be pretty good. Polls at this point don’t mean a whole lot. The only time polls matter are at the end of the year.”
Holliday has maintained extremely high goals for his team, acknowledging progress along the way, but insisting not being in the mix for a championship is unacceptable. The difference heading into this season as to the past three years, Holliday feels Marshall has the personnel in place to excel. In fact, Holliday is more optimistic now than he has ever been at Marshall.
“I think we have the pieces in place that we’ve got a shot, if we take care of business and prepare, we’ve got a shot to have a pretty good football team,” explains Holliday. “I don’t see a lot of holes like I’ve seen in the past. I think for the most part, on both sides of the ball, we have a chance to have some good players in place and as the head coach that’s exciting.”
The Herd’s prolific offense in 2012 has caught the attention of prognosticators around the country who also believe the weapons are in place to contend not only for a league championship but possibly a national ranking. The question remains has the defense improved enough under new coordinator Chuck Heater to slow down opponents?
Doc Holliday thinks so.
“We understand our problems. We understood what our personnel problems were a year ago. You’ve got to have athletes, and now we have more of them. You’ve got to have more pass rushers, and we’ve got more of them. I think the biggest area we tried to improve to be able to deal with that (is bringing in) the Stefan Houstons, the Neville Hewitts, the Evan McKelveys, the (Kent) Turenes. That way the Corey Tindals now can go in and be nickels. We’ve got two young freshmen coming in, Michael Johnson and Tiquan Lang, who can hopefully give us some more depth there, more safeties, with D.J. (Hunter) going back (to safety from linebacker).
The vision for Marshall football in 2013 is certainly lofty. Herd fans are anticipating a run at the C-USA title or more. Simply winning six or seven games and going to a bowl would a disappointment this season.