Several weeks have passed since Christian Brand discovered he was among the 2026 Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame Class.
That’s done little to quell the excitement and pride in Brand, a Charleston native, Capital High School graduate and one of the more accomplished golfers from West Virginia.
“I’m very elated. I didn’t really have it on my radar,” Brand said, “but very happy to be in such a prestigious class and the Marshall Hall of Fame in general.”
Brand had a unique and successful career for the Herd that began as a true freshman in the 2006-07 season. He was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year and followed it up with a team-best scoring average of 74.2 as a sophomore in the 2007-08 campaign.
Brand was again the team leader in scoring as a junior at 75.5 in 2008-09.
Looking to build off past success as a senior, Brand instead stepped away from college tournament competition during the 2009-10 season, which he used to redshirt.
“It was kind of a different scenario,” Brand recalled. “I had switched majors during my tenure there because one of my teachers told me I couldn’t golf and pass their class. I had projected that I would be there four and-a-half years, and my golf coach came to me and said, ‘we have a couple transfers and a good incoming freshmen class next year. What do you think about redshirting?’”
With one season of eligibility remaining and having proven he belonged, Brand wasn’t fully open to the idea at first, but felt Herd golf coach Joe Feaganes had he and the program’s best interest in mind.
“I definitely had reservations and it was a unique scenario,” Brand said. “I’d never really heard of doing that, but it really came down to just trusting coach Feaganes. He had put a lot of thought into it before talking to me, and I figured, if he believes in this, then why wouldn’t I? My senior year was basically my last semester. I had a couple classes to finish up, and in the final semester in spring, I took whatever classes I wanted, so it was a lot easier to focus on golf.”
The move proved beneficial as Brand again led Marshall in stroke average at 73.2 during the 2010-11 season. He capped it with an 11th-place finish at the C-USA Men’s Golf Championship and soon after participated as an individual in the NCAA Regional at Virginia Tech, becoming Marshall’s first men’s golfer to qualify for a NCAA Regional since Jonathan Clark 15 years earlier.
“It ended up being a blessing in disguise because my fifth year, I had my best year,” Brand said.
Following his college career, Brand played on the Web.com Tour (now known as the Korn Ferry Tour) in 2014 and from 2017-19 and was close to earning his PGA Tour card in 2018.
When his wife Sara became pregnant with their now 6-year-old son Leo, Brand elected for a career change.
He remains a State Farm agent today working out of an office in Hurricane, but has hardly lost his golf prowess.
Brand has four West Virginia Open titles to his credit in 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2025, along with first-place finishes in the West Virginia Amateur in 2011 and 2024, the latter of which he won at 22-under par to top his closest competitor by 21 strokes and set a tournament scoring record in the process.
“I keep golf a huge part of my life. It’ll always be a part of my life and now with my son getting into it, I’m trying to pass that down,” Brand said. “I love to play and practice still. I keep a very competitive schedule whenever I get time away from work and now the coolest part is being able to go out and play a few holes with my son.”
Brand’s official indication into the Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame comes September 12. He will be honored during a luncheon that afternoon prior to the Herd playing host to Middle Tennessee in football that night.
“They bring us out on the field during a football game, and tailgating with friends and family before will be a pure celebration, and I’ll try to make a few memories there,” Brand said. “The goosebumps will come when I get to walk out on the field with my wife and son, and hopefully they will remember it as much as I do.”