— By Bill Cornwell
Marshall stumbled to a 5-7 finish in Tony Gibson’s first year as head coach.
Still, Gibson insists there is plenty of reason for optimism ahead of his second season guiding the Thundering Herd.
At last week’s Sun Belt Conference Media Days in New Orleans, Gibson, quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and defensive back Dayton Smith spoke on behalf of a team picked to finish third in the league’s East Division Preseason Poll.
“Everything is different this year when compared to last year, from the amount of sleep I get at night to the way we manage things,” Gibson said. “It’s so much smoother right now. Of course, we kept a good core of our players, compared to last year when we had 75 new players. Last year was a hard year and a learning year all the way around. We made a lot of mistakes and had to rebuild a few things and get it the way I wanted it, and we did that. It’s much easier now to operate day-to-day.”
After the 2025 season, Gibson made changes to the program, most noticeably hiring four new defensive coaches as part of adjustments to the program’s operation.
Marshall’s offense features 16 new faces along with seven returning starters. On defense, the Herd added 17 new players and seven starters return from last year.
Del Rio-Wilson was named as the league’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year last week along with being one of six Marshall players on the Preseason All-Conference first team. Three other players were on the All-Sun Belt second team.
“We have to earn everything we get, just like last year,” Gibson said. “I like high expectations, because if nobody’s talking about us, nobody cares about us. We’re used to winning at Marshall and if we don’t win a Sun Belt title, I’ll feel like a failure, so we’re going after it. Our kids and our staff have that mindset as well as our fans and administration.”
Less than seven weeks separates the Herd from its September 5 season opener at Penn State. Marshall welcomes Middle Tennessee the next week for its first home contest.
“We had a great core group of guys that stayed with us and cared about the program and each other,” Gibson said. “Our team chemistry right now is as strong as with any group I’ve been a part of. These kids believe in what we’re doing, they believe in Marshall and they believe in each other — and that’s what is going to help us get better.”