UNC Recap, Herd Goes to Motown and Coaching Staff

Well ladies and gentlemen, it's the wee hours of Christmas morning and I was hoping for an early present in the form of a Marshall Basketball win over the defending National Champs at UNC. Well, as you may know from the lack of the major upset coverage, that didn't happen.

Nevertheless I still got to make the trip to a basketball mecca, and it was all it was advertised to be. Of course since we got into North Carolina early and why not, we stopped over in Durham, NC, better known as the home of Duke University.

Cameron Indoor is much smaller than I could have even imagined, we would have probably drove past it if it wasn't right next to Wallace Wade Stadium, which ironically is much larger than I imagined. Took a quick peak at Wallace Wade and then took the 10-15 feet walk to Cameron Indoor, which to our surprise was unlocked.

After some exploring we made our way onto the court which was a breath-taking experience to say the least. We spent some time just taking in the fact that we were inside the legendary arena before departing to Chapel Hill to set up for the broadcast.

The Dean Smith Center was a little less breath-taking but still impressive. It looked like any generic basketball arena in the country, but once you stepped inside and saw the Carolina Blue court and all the banners in the rafters it was evident you were standing in a special place.

That feeling quickly disappeared in me though being the lifelong Marshall fan that I am and it was replaced with the thought that "This is where the enemy lives."

Overall it was a fun trip, I sat less than two feet away from Roy Williams in the post-game press conference and that was kind of a surreal moment as well. Too bad the Herd couldn't make it even more surreal with a win.

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Anyway, unless you've been living under a rock you know that Marshall University Football is preparing for it's first bowl game since the 2004 Fort Worth Bowl. So here's what's going on around the Huntington-Charleston Media.

• Well, the first is from the AP, but it relates. This is Ohio's rebirth of sorts under a head coach that formerly had the reigns at Nebraska, and despite only being two games above .500 he's close to becoming one of the winningest coaches in Ohio University history.(Associated-Press)

• Of course your can't play at Ford Field with out thinking about the NFL(no matter how bad the team that plays there is) and the same goes for Herd players hoping to go to the next level. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

• Speaking of the game, Ohio University is going to be running a spread offense in the game. That's something that in the fast paced, spread offensive styled Conference USA, that Marshall hasn't seen this year and it should be a challenge to the defense. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

• And at the game taking a bit of a cue from Varsity Blues, injured TE Cody Slate will apparently be doing a bit of coaching from the sidelines. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

• Keeping things in the Tight End vein, and taking a quick step back to the NFL idea, TE Lee Smith still has a year left at Marshall, but he also has a family to consider. So Smith has a decision to make very soon about his future. (Charleston Daily Mail)

• Again while on the NFL topic, the late great Frank "Gunner" Gatski's NFL Hall of Fame ring went missing several years ago, and earlier today it finally showed up and was returned to his family. (Associated-Press)

• And finally, in the Little Caesar's Bowl, motivation will be key and both squads have plenty to get excited about. (Charleston Daily Mail)

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In closing, ever since Doc Holliday stepped onto Marshall's campus there has been a bit of life return to the football program. The hire was preceded by an incredible amount of speculation that has somewhat subsided. However some remains, especially around the question of who he will bring with him.

Rumors at first pointed to Holliday bringing Chris Beatty (WVU Running Backs Coach), JaJuan Seiders (WVU Graduate Assistant) and Steve Dunlap (WVU Secondary Coach, Former MU Defensive Coordinator) with him to Huntington.

It would appear WVU has managed to keep Beatty around by giving him the Recruiting Coordinator title, but Seiders would seem to be on his way to Huntington with Dunlap still unaccounted for.

With Beatty removed from the Offensive Coordinator discussion attention has turned to Tony Peterson (South Dakota QB Coach) and Bill Legg (FIU Offensive Coordinator). Legg has WVU connections serving on the staff under Don Nehlan along with Holliday and Peterson is a former Marshall QB and member of the coaching staff.

The initial story was that either of the two would be Offensive Coordinator, however now it is rumored that this would be a cooperative position between the two.

Regardless of how that position turns out, Phil Ratliff (TE/Tackles Coach) has been told he will be retained, so at least Holliday has two positions filled.

He's going to try and get everything ready to go for the first of the year for recruiting some sources are saying.