Herd follows new leader
Players get past earlier doubts, learn fast under intense Snyder
By Jim Masilak
August 25, 2005
When Mark Snyder was hired last spring as Marshall's new football coach, the Thundering Herd's players were less than impressed.
"We didn't know if we wanted somebody, especially somebody from Ohio State, coming in here," senior safety Chris Royal said of Snyder, a Buckeyes assistant for the past four seasons. "I know how their fans are. We went to Ohio State last year, and that was not a nice reception at all. They were talking trash, elbowing and throwing stuff at us. I was like, 'Anybody from Ohio State has to be a little hostile.' I didn't know what to expect.
"But once he got here, all those questions went out the window."
After some initial uncertainty, Marshall's players -- or what players it has left after losing 16 starters from the team that went 6-6 last season -- have taken to Snyder's hands-on, no-nonsense approach.
"We thought he would come in thinking he would have to prove himself to us. We thought he would be a little more quiet," Royal said. "When he walked in the door for our first meeting he said, 'This is what we're gonna do, and this is how we're gonna do it. We don't have a lot of time to get this right.' He came with a real plan, and that stuck out in the players' minds."
The 40-year-old Snyder, who came on board following Bob Pruett's surprise retirement, has been planning for this moment since he finished his playing career at Marshall in 1987.
Following stops at Central Florida, Youngstown State, Minnesota and Ohio State, Snyder has his dream job.
"When I left I thought it would be really neat to be able to come back and be the head coach of my alma mater," he said. "Every coach has two dreams: To become a head coach and become a head coach at your alma mater. I got fortunate. I'm back home."
Snyder compiled quite a resume in the interim.
As a long-time assistant to Jim Tressel at Youngstown State and then Ohio State, where he served as defensive coordinator last season, Snyder experienced the highs and the lows of college football.
While Snyder won four national championship rings during his time with Tressel -- three Division 1-AA titles at Youngstown State and the 2002 national title at Ohio State -- he also was present in Columbus when allegations of improper benefits and academic fraud surfaced during the Maurice Clarett saga.
"As far as going through something like that on a national scale, I've got some of the best experience in America," Snyder said of handling controversy. "I haven't had to deal with those kinds of things yet (as a head coach), but I imagine it would take some of the shine off it."
With that in mind, Snyder speaks often about winning with integrity.
Following Marshall's least successful season since moving to Division 1-A in 1997, and with a move from the Mid-American Conference to Conference USA, these are uncertain times in Huntington, W.Va.
"It's an exciting time because we're going into a new conference," Snyder said. "Our goals are to win a (conference) championship and become a BCS bowl team. Those are our goals, pure and simple. And we would like to be the class of college football as we do it."
In part because Snyder wasn't hired until the day of the spring game, giving him little time to install his system and evaluate talent, he and the Herd have been working frantically to make up for lost time.
Snyder's high-energy approach has shocked the systems of those used to life under Pruett.
"He had other coaches come with him from Ohio State, and they said he's just super intense on the field all the time," senior offensive lineman Toby Bullock said. "Coach Pruett wasn't like that. He was more laid back. ... I think it will be a lot more up-tempo than it has been in the past. If you're not on Coach Snyder's page, you're not on the page."
-- Jim Masilak: 529-2311
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Evaluating: MARSHALL
The past: The Thundering Herd's worst season since moving to Division 1-A wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. Marshall, which managed just six wins for the first time since 1990, lost its first three games to Troy, Ohio State and Georgia by a total of 15 points. The Herd bounced back to go 6-2 in its final Mid-American Conference season before closing the Bob Pruett era with a Fort Worth Bowl loss to outgoing C-USA member Cincinnati.
The present: The Herd has just six returning starters and a new head coach in Mark Snyder, who replaces the successful Pruett. And because Snyder wasn't hired until the end of spring practice, Marshall has had a lot of catching up to do this fall. The last time the Herd joined a new conference, in 1997, it won the MAC title. Doing the same in the revamped Conference USA will be a much bigger challenge. Marshall lost top returning receiver Emanuel Spann to a knee injury in the spring, and Bernie Morris's sore shoulder could hand senior Jimmy Skinner the QB job by default.
The future: Non-conference games against Kansas State and a Virginia Tech will test a young team. By the time Marshall gets into the meat of the C-USA schedule, with home games against UAB and Southern Miss and trips to UTEP and Memphis, Snyder and the Herd will have developed a better feel for one another. If Marshall qualifies for a bowl game, the season will be deemed a success.
-- Jim Masilak
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Memphis Commercial Appeal story on Marshall
