— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Tony Gibson’s coaching staff is coming into place.
While names of all staff members have not yet been released, Gibson, the new Marshall football coach, announced Wednesday who will lead the Thundering Herd offense, defense and special teams.
Marshall’s new offensive coordinator is Franklin native and Glenville State graduate Rod Smith, who worked last fall at Jacksonville State under new West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Marshall alumnus Shannon Morrison will coordinate the Herd defense this fall. Morrison was on former MU head coach Charles Huff’s staff for three seasons as linebackers coach, but was let go after the 2023 season.
Jackson White, another former Herd player, will be in charge of special teams under Gibson.
“I’m excited to have these guys serve as coordinators on my first staff here at Marshall,” Gibson said. “Rod’s experience and expertise speaks for itself as he’s coached some great quarterbacks who went on to Player of the Year honors — Denard Robinson, Pat White, Khalil Tate and Tyler Huff. Shannon is entrenched with Marshall’s program and has seen success defensively throughout his career and Jackson is someone I’ve watched grow during his time at N.C. State and also has close ties to Marshall, having played here.
“The best thing about this group is they all have ties to the state of West Virginia and Marshall, and they will be fully invested in the team, the community, the state and making sure we play at a high level. We’re excited to get rolling with them.”
Smith was Jacksonville State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the last three seasons. He was part of a JSU group that won the 2024 Conference USA championship. In 2024, the Gamecocks ranked No. 12 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 36 points per game. The offense was powered by a rushing attack that produced an FBS-best 51 touchdowns while rolling up 251.2 yards per game on the ground, which was No. 3 in FBS. In all, Jacksonville State racked up 441.6 yards per game to rank in the top-20 in FBS in total offense under Smith’s guidance.
Smith led the Gamecocks as interim head coach in the program’s most recent game, a 30-27 loss to Ohio in the Cure Bowl.
Smith worked previously with Rodriguez at WVU, Michigan and Arizona. Smith has also had stints on the staff at Virginia, Illinois and Indiana.
Morrison is beginning his fourth stint on the MU coaching staff. Besides working under Huff, he was the Herd’s linebackers and safeties coach from 2005-08 and a graduate assistant in 1995 and 1997.
He was previously a defensive coordinator during earlier stops at Bowling Green (2009), Lehigh (2004) and Southeast Missouri (2001-03).
Other stops in Morrison’s coaching career include Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Ball State and Memphis.
Morrison played on Marshall’s 1992 NCAA I-AA National Championship team and was an All-Southern Conference First Team selection and an FCS All-America Honorable Mention selection as a senior.
As for White, he worked with Gibson for the past four seasons at North Carolina State, where he was a Special Teams Quality Control Analyst. He also worked as a defensive backs coach at South Carolina in 2020.
While with the Wolfpack, White helped coach All-American and Lou Groza Award winner Christopher Dunn. White also coached Joe Shimko, who won the 2023 Patrick Mannelly Award, given to the nation’s best long snapper. Shimko snapped for every punt and kick for 61 games with zero bad snaps.
White was a backup quarterback for the Herd from 2016-19 and served as a holder for kicker Justin Rohrwasser, the 2019 Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year,.