Marshall Football: 5 candidates to replace Doc Holliday as head coach
After a surprising decision to let Doc Holliday go, Marshall Football is in need of a new football coach and should have a good list of candidates to choose from
Marshall football started out 7-0 this season and got ranked as high as 15 in the AP poll, but a three game losing streak to end the season cast some doubt over whether Holliday would return to Huntington for a 12th season.
On Monday morning, the news broke that Marshall had decided to go in another direction with its football program and it seems like it was a decision that involved a lot more than just the athletic department at Marshall.
Holliday had a tremendous amount of success while he was the head coach of the Thundering Herd and was the C-USA coach of the year for leading Marshall to a 7-3 record and an appearance in the conference championship game, all while starting a true freshman quarterback in Grant Wells.
Overall, Holliday was 85-54 in 11 seasons as the head coach and won the conference championship in 2014, while also playing for it in 2013 and 2020. Holliday sported a 6-2 record in bowl games and kept the Thundering Herd in the conversation for conference championships for much of the time while he was there.
Marshall is a good job that has a history of winning and a very devoted fan base that backs them. While I do not think it is at all realistic for the Thundering Herd to return to the days of Randy Moss and Chad Pennington and winning championships, the next coach will have a talented quarterback in Wells to lead the program and Marshall has the ability to be competing for C-USA titles and appearances in the New Years six games.
One candidate that I will leave off of this list is Pennington. While it would be a popular hire among the fan base, Pennington has not coached at either the collegiate or professional level yet and that would be a lot to put on a first time coach that lacks experience.
Here are the five candidates that I think could be the next head coach at Marshall