CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Marshall University fans, alumni, and donors made their way to the Bill Noe Flight School in Charleston Wednesday evening to celebrate the beginning of the fall athletic season with the annual “Paint the Capital City Green” fundraiser event.
In a small airport hangar next to the flight school, hundreds of people sporting kelly green showed their support for The Herd and got to get a glimpse of the upcoming sports calendar with a panel of Marshall sports personalities that included athletic director Christian Spears, men’s basketball coach Cornelius Jackson, softball coach Morgan Zerkle, and cross-country coach Caleb Bowen. Head football coach Charles Huff also made a brief appearance after the team concluded practice.
Marshall University President Brad Smith says hosting an event like this brings Herd supporters together.
“My favorite part of hosting an event like this is it reminds me of who we are,” Smith said Wednesday evening. “We are a community. We have a rally cry, ‘We are Marshall,’ the most important word in that rally cry is the first one, ‘we.’ This reminds you, this is the people’s university, this is our team, and this is why we do what we do.”
Newly appointed men’s basketball coach Cornelius Jackson says an event like this resembles a family reunion.
“Anytime you can get a whole bunch of Herd fans together, to me, it’s like a family reunion,” Jackson said. “It shows the support that we have, the energy, the connection, the familiar faces, so it’s like a big family reunion.”
Smith said having university events in the Capital City is very important on a yearly basis.
“It’s incredibly important to maintain a presence here in Charleston,” Smith said. “We are a prosperity platform for the Appalachian region. We have students throughout the state, throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and actually, from countries around the world, so it’s important for us to recognize that while we may have a geographic preference in a couple of places, we actually touch lives all around the globe.”
In addition to being treated to a panel full of Marshall athletic coaches, fans also had a chance to participate in live auctions. Among the prizes was a trip from Charleston to Huntington in a university helicopter before Marshall’s men’s soccer match against WVU on November 5. The second prize was an authentic football helmet with the new chrome decals and stripes that Marshall will dawn once the season begins.
Smith says he’s more than ready for the beginning of the football season.
“My heart starts pounding as soon as I know that the summertime past July 4th is leading towards football season,” Smith said. “I know what I’m going to feel, I know what I’m going to see, I know what I’m going to experience. It is Herd Nation coming out to root on the Thundering Herd.”
Smith says there’s a real reason to be excited for what the fall will bring to Huntington.
“The great part about this time of year is we’re all undefeated, so everyone is optimistic, but I think we have a real reason to be optimistic,” Smith said. “We’ve got great coaches, great athletes, we have a history of winning and I really full like this is a year that we’re going to show the world what kelly green can do.”
In his speech, Smith spoke on the football team’s upcoming schedule that features games in Blacksburg, Virginia against the Virginia Tech Hokies and in Columbus, Ohio against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Smith referred back to The Herd’s upset victory in South Bend, Indiana just two years ago against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, saying there seems to always be a tough non-conference schedule, but Marshall won’t back down from the challenge.
“We definitely have stacked a difficult and challenging schedule, but that’s what Marshall has always been about,” Smith said. “We test ourselves. We know that we have endured things that have been difficult in our lives and we’ve endured competition that others say, “Wow, there’s no way you’re going to beat them,’ and we’ve come out of both of those things winning, and so I’m very excited to go into those arenas to test just how good we are and to know that no matter what that scoreboard says at the end, we’re winners.”
Marshall will get its football season kicked off on August 31 at 5 p.m. against Stony Brook from Joan C. Edwards Stadium.