— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — After a 30-day ramp up recruiting players and and hiring coaches, first-year Marshall football head coach Tony Gibson is eager to see the Herd get to work.
Winter workouts began last week and Gibson has set March 4 as the start date for spring practice. The 15 practice sessions throughout spring will wrap up with a Green-White Spring Game at Joan C. Edwards Stadium at 3 p.m. on April 12.
“We’ll play real football for a half, then we’ll decide what we’re going to do moving forward from that,” Gibson said.
Gibson says the Herd will work out each Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this spring.
He’s encouraging players to take a break from practices on weekends in March and April.
“The reason I do that is because I preach family,” Gibson said. “We want this to be a family atmosphere. Family is important to me, so I’ll give our guys the weekends to spend with their families. I want our kids to have a life outside of football.”
Marshall’s transfer portal class is likely to exceed 50 players before the season begins.
There are currently 108 players on the Herd roster and Gibson is encouraged by their early enthusiasm.
“They’re excited for the change and new beginnings,” Gibson said. “They’ve worked hard in the weight room, so I’m excited to keep moving forward and doing things the right way.”
With new coordinators — Rod Smith on offense and Shannon Morrison on defense — Herd fans should notice new looks on both sides of the ball.
“We’re going to make it Marshall schemes,” Gibson said. “We’re not going to stay stale and do the things that maybe we’ve always done, but we’re going to add to them and we’re going to get them to fit Marshall and our personnel.”
Marshall suffered a high number of personnel losses to the transfer portal immediately after winning the Sun Belt Conference Championship in December.
Former MU head coach Charles Huff left for the same title at Southern Mississippi, and most of his Marshall staff also departed. The dwindling roster led to Marshall opting out of the Independence Bowl, which had been scheduled for December 28 against Army in Shreveport, Louisiana.
As a result of the Herd opting out, the Sun Belt Conference last week fined Marshall $100,000.
With such turmoil, Gibson says that he and his staff were honest with players looking for a new home.
“Kids want opportunities,” Gibson said. “My selling point was that you’re starting with a new staff and we have a lot of open spots, so you can come and compete.
“I also told them about the history of Marshall, because at every level that Marshall has played, they’ve won and won big. We also sold them on the community and how much that Marshall football means to the people here.”