As he enters his 10th season as the head coach of the Thundering Herd, Doc Holliday is fairly comfortable in the security of his job. The West Virginia native is coaching in his home state, and he has remained in Huntington even in the face of offers to move to a new post. Marshall, to put it simply, looks more and more like where the 62-year-old Holliday will retire.
One thing to note, though, is that the Thundering Herd will be four years removed from their most recent season with 10 or more wins. They also have one of the thinnest returning defenses in college football, after losing half of the productivity on that side of the ball from last season.
Getting to double digits in the win column isn’t going to be a prerequisite for Holliday to keep his job, by any means, but contending for the C-USA East title in 2019 is a critical part of where Marshall stands and the expectations that might befall this year’s squad.
Winning Conference USA outright would be a pleasant surprise for most of the Herd and their fans. Expectations aren’t quite pegged that high in 2019, but after winning eight games in 2017 and nine games in 2018 the hope is that they keep that trend line pushing upward. Holliday needs to prove that he can get Marshall back to the promised land of competing for conference crowns.