HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — In the rapidly changing world of college athletics, it takes a lot to keep up, but Marshall Director of Athletics Gerald Harrison believes many of the new developments benefit the Thundering Herd.
Harrison addressed the university’s Board of Governors this week and specifically cited new rules that establish a single transfer portal window for college football players in January.
“That puts us in a little bit of a crunch to get student-athletes here before the drop/add date, but we do know that whatever team we have at that point in January, we know that’s the team that we will field—more than likely the majority of them—through the fall,” he said.
After the Marshall football program experienced significant turnover following head coach Charles Huff’s departure last year, Harrison said the change may be a year too late but still marks an improvement. He added that a new rule that stops players from entering the portal until five days after a new coach is hired would have been helpful last year as well.
As for the shifting player compensation landscape, Harrison said his department continues work on a plan to transition its focus from name, image, and likeness payments to direct revenue sharing with student-athletes.
“Our involvement in NIL was strong through the collective and those who support us outside of the university. Now, it’s turning to revenue generation and how we’re going to do that, so we’re working on a plan and a partnership to help us with our revenue generation,” he said.
Players now have something else they can do with that money. Harrison addressed an announcement this week that student-athletes and coaches will now be permitted to bet on professional sports.
“We grew up in a time where the first thing they said in intercollegiate athletics, the one rule you knew, was don’t bet on it. Don’t bet on it. Don’t bet on it; no gambling allowed. Well, now it’s 2025. Student-athletes and coaches are now allowed, by NCAA rule, to gamble on professional sports,” he said.
Harrison said that education on what is and is not permissible under the new NCAA betting rules will be a focus going forward.
Now a few months into his tenure, Harrison intends to introduce changes to certain aspects of the athletic department to address budget shortfalls.
He mentioned ticket revenue by name and said they’re working with new ideas.
“We’re being very aggressive in the area of family and group sales, actually looking at an outside, third-party vendor to do some outbound calling instead of waiting for you to call us to buy our tickets,” he said.
Marshall named Harrison its 23rd athletic director in July.