HUNTINGTON - John "Doc" Holliday, of 19th Century fame, was a dentist, inveterate gambler and gunfighter.
John "Doc" Holliday, a new college head football coach - finally - in the 21st Century, may have to resort to some of those tactics of his namesake later this week.
The only way the latter-day Holliday and his first Marshall team may have a chance of keeping it competitive at No. 2 Ohio State on Thursday night is to pull teeth, roll the dice and shoot from the hip more than a few times.
Not many coaches get a welcome to their jobs quite like Holliday will have before more than 102,000 fans at the Giant Horseshoe. In fact, the Herd coach doesn't face a big degree of difficulty just for openers.
They say misery loves company, but Holliday - a 170-pound Hurricane High state champion wrestler who probably never has run away from a fight - has only one peer who is facing ranked teams in the first two games of the season.
For Marshall, it's the No. 2 Buckeyes and then No. 25 West Virginia eight days later here. San Jose State's new coach, former Duke defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, has it even tougher.
The Spartans, picked to finish in the WAC basement, face two money-making trips for starters, to top-ranked Alabama, then No. 12 Wisconsin. So much for those FCS breathers, huh?
I went through the 120 major college schedules, and 61 teams play an FCS buy game in Week 1 or 2 of the season. Eleven of the 12 ACC teams do that (North Carolina is the exception). Seven of eight Big East teams do it. Syracuse doesn't, but then plays two in a row after that.
In Marshall's conference USA, five of the 12 play a game against what once was called Division I-AA. Besides Marshall, East Carolina is the only C-USA team that faces two foes (Virginia Tech, North Carolina, back-to-back with an off week sandwiched) ranked in the preseason AP poll.
Holliday admits he really doesn't know how good his team is - because it hasn't played anyone other than itself before his eyes. He still may not know at this time next week, and beyond ... because it will be difficult to tell whether the Herd is overscheduled or still undermanned.
If the Herd finishes better than 6-6 and gets one of C-USA's six or seven bowl berths, Holliday should be a candidate for league coach of the year. The pivotal game, in this pressbox-sitter's crystal ball, is the Herd's home date against UCF.
Marshall needs that one if it is to have any chance at a winning season. The Herd's advantage is it doesn't have to play Houston or Tulsa, two of the best three teams in C-USA. But it has to go to Southern Mississippi and ECU and also to SMU ... and Marshall seemingly hasn't won in Texas since Davy Crockett was losing at the Alamo - speaking of gunfights.
Holliday's only advantage at Ohio State - nearly a five-touchdown favorite - might be that the Buckeyes won't have much of a clue to what Doc might prescribe. He's never run a game from the sideline before. I don't think past WVU, North Carolina State and Florida tape will help.
HUNTINGTON - John "Doc" Holliday, of 19th Century fame, was a dentist, inveterate gambler and gunfighter.
John "Doc" Holliday, a new college head football coach - finally - in the 21st Century, may have to resort to some of those tactics of his namesake later this week.
The only way the latter-day Holliday and his first Marshall team may have a chance of keeping it competitive at No. 2 Ohio State on Thursday night is to pull teeth, roll the dice and shoot from the hip more than a few times.
Not many coaches get a welcome to their jobs quite like Holliday will have before more than 102,000 fans at the Giant Horseshoe. In fact, the Herd coach doesn't face a big degree of difficulty just for openers.
They say misery loves company, but Holliday - a 170-pound Hurricane High state champion wrestler who probably never has run away from a fight - has only one peer who is facing ranked teams in the first two games of the season.
For Marshall, it's the No. 2 Buckeyes and then No. 25 West Virginia eight days later here. San Jose State's new coach, former Duke defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, has it even tougher.
The Spartans, picked to finish in the WAC basement, face two money-making trips for starters, to top-ranked Alabama, then No. 12 Wisconsin. So much for those FCS breathers, huh?
I went through the 120 major college schedules, and 61 teams play an FCS buy game in Week 1 or 2 of the season. Eleven of the 12 ACC teams do that (North Carolina is the exception). Seven of eight Big East teams do it. Syracuse doesn't, but then plays two in a row after that.
In Marshall's conference USA, five of the 12 play a game against what once was called Division I-AA. Besides Marshall, East Carolina is the only C-USA team that faces two foes (Virginia Tech, North Carolina, back-to-back with an off week sandwiched) ranked in the preseason AP poll.
Holliday admits he really doesn't know how good his team is - because it hasn't played anyone other than itself before his eyes. He still may not know at this time next week, and beyond ... because it will be difficult to tell whether the Herd is overscheduled or still undermanned.
If the Herd finishes better than 6-6 and gets one of C-USA's six or seven bowl berths, Holliday should be a candidate for league coach of the year. The pivotal game, in this pressbox-sitter's crystal ball, is the Herd's home date against UCF.
Marshall needs that one if it is to have any chance at a winning season. The Herd's advantage is it doesn't have to play Houston or Tulsa, two of the best three teams in C-USA. But it has to go to Southern Mississippi and ECU and also to SMU ... and Marshall seemingly hasn't won in Texas since Davy Crockett was losing at the Alamo - speaking of gunfights.
Holliday's only advantage at Ohio State - nearly a five-touchdown favorite - might be that the Buckeyes won't have much of a clue to what Doc might prescribe. He's never run a game from the sideline before. I don't think past WVU, North Carolina State and Florida tape will help.
"As a new head coach, I don't think you know how good your team is until you go play somebody," Holliday said the other day. "That being said, Ohio State is a great football team and coming out of that game we will have a better idea on what we have on this team. I think we will have a lot better idea, personnel wise, what we have after Thursday.
"Ohio State will be, without a doubt, the most talented team we play all year. They are picked to win the Big Ten and are one of the best teams in America so they are going to be talented. But we come back and play six straight weeks against teams who made bowls, so we will be playing a lot of talent."
Ohio State hasn't lost a home opener since 1978, when the sixth-ranked Buckeyes fell 19-0 to No. 5 Penn State in Coach Woody Hayes' career-ending season culminated by his personal punch (Gator) bowl. OSU hasn't fallen in a home opener to an unranked team since 1967 (Arizona, 14-7).
Holliday is no rookie at this stuff, however. Neither is the Herd. They've faced plenty of high-ranked teams. They just haven't won much.
Holliday's predecessor, Mark Snyder, faced six ranked teams in five seasons at his alma mater. The result was a really bad 0-6, by an average score of 45-13. The Herd is 2-12 all-time against AP-ranked teams - and never has played a No. 2. Marshall lost the 2001 opener 49-14 at top-ranked Florida.
In Holliday's three-decade career as an assistant coach, teams he's been with are 1-12 against clubs ranked in the top three in the polls. The win was on the biggest stage, however - and against Ohio State ... Florida's 41-14 Fiesta Bowl triumph for the 2006 national title in the Fiesta Bowl.
WVU was 0-12 vs. top three teams during Holliday's first stint at his alma mater, before leaving prior to Coach Don Nehlen's last season to move to Chuck Amato's new Wolfpack staff. N.C. State lost at third-ranked OSU 44-38 in three overtimes in 2003.
Florida was 1-1 vs. top 3 teams in Holliday's three seasons (2005-07) at The Swamp. In the past two years, with Holliday back at West Virginia, the Mountaineers didn't face a 1, 2 or 3 team.
And get this: Holliday knows how tough playing the Buckeyes can be. Ohio State is 5-0 against Holliday's employers - and for the six games (counting this Thursday), the Buckeyes have been ranked 5, 1, 3, 5, 1, 2.
"If their tails aren't ready to play by the time I walk in that locker room, we have some major problems," Holliday said in perhaps the season's first understatement.
The Doc Holliday of the 19th Century, though wounded, did all right at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - but then the McLaurys didn't have Terrelle Pryor at quarterback.
If the Herd's Holliday can get lucky at the Giant Horseshoe, maybe they should one day put it on his tombstone.
Contact Sports Editor Jack Bogaczyk at ja...@dailymail.com or 304-348-7949.
