Can Huff Equal Reilly?
For starters, to answer the question in the headline: No, not a chance. Read till the end and you will find out why.
Marshall has a new Head Football Coach!
Since my Great Grandmother Evelyn’s uncle George (Ford) stepped down as being the first ever head coach of Marshall Football in 1904, Marshall has had 28 Head coaches. Charles Huff will be the 30th person to lead the Marshall football team into action on Saturdays. ** Note – These numbers exclude Interim Head Coach Rick Minter’s one game in 2009
Charles Huff joins the Herd after spending the last two years as the Associate Head Coach/Running Backs coach at Alabama. The 37 year old Maryland native has also served stints at Mississippi State, Penn State, Western Michigan, Vanderbilt, Hampton, Maryland, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and with the Buffalo Bills. Huff will taking over a Marshall team that finished 7 – 3 after being ranked as high as 15 midway through the season.
Huff is known as one of the best recruiters in the country. He brought several high profile players to Alabama and Penn State. That list includes eight five star players and a former four star running back by the name of Saquan Barkley. One Alabama radio personality tweeted that this loss is the biggest one yet, “besides Sark of course.”
Marshall’s first head football coach was George Ford. Ford took over the position in 1903. Football was played every year, except for 1918 during World War I. Marshall played 116 years of football over that time period. The 29 coaches over that time means that the average tenure was right exactly 4 years.
Marshall’s all time leader in wins is Bob Pruett with 94. Charlie Snyder is the all time leader in losses with 58. Marshall’s all time leader in ties, is Uncle George. George Ford finished his two year stint with at Marshall with a record of 4 – 4 – 4.
Marshall had several coaches with cool names. There is a Sonny, Doc, Herb, Tallman, and a Pearl. But the all time greatest coaching name in Marshall football history belongs to Skeeter Shelton. Shelton was the head coach at Marshall in 1921 and 1922. Shelton finished with a record 11 – 6 – 1. Shelton was also a Major League Baseball player. He was a native of Huntington. He played for the New York Yankees. His career batting average was .025. He had just one hit in 40 career at bats.
A Look at Each Head Coach's Debut at Marshall:
Coach Huff is currently slated to coach his first game for the Herd on September 4th, on the road at Navy. How did other Marshall coaches fare in their first game on the sidelines for Marshall:
George Ford – 1903 – Tie Middleport High School 0 - 0
Alfred McCray – 1905 – Forfeit Win over Ashland High School, actual first game coaching was a 15 – 5 win over Kenova
Pearl Rardin – 1906 –Tie against Cincinnati 0 - 0
William Vinal – 1908 – Loss at Ohio, 59 - 0
Boyd Chambers – 1909 – Win against Charleston AC 12 - 0
Burton Shipley – 1917 – Forfeit win over Rio Grande, first game coaching was the following week in a record setting 94 to 0 loss to Denison. Shipley’s teams were outscored 345 to 7 on the year
Archer Reilly – 1919 – 76 – 0 win over Morris Harvey. Talk about a turnaround. Reilly gets that award. After Shipley’s dismal year, and no football in 1918, Reilly’s teams outscored its opponents 302 to 13.
Herbert Cramer – 1920 – 38 to 0 loss to Army. And yet another ridiculous turnaround. Marshall did not score all year, and gave up 247 points. Archer Reilly must have been pretty good.
Skeeter Shelton – 1921 – Skeeter led Marshall to a 0 – 0 tie against Marietta.
Harrison Briggs – 1923 – 41 to 0 loss to Kentucky
Russ Meredith – 1924 – 13 to 3 in over New River State
Charles Tallman – 1925 – 26 to 0 win over Glenville
John Maulbetsch – 1929 – 40 to 6 win over Glenville
Tom Dandelet – 1931 – 20 – 6 win over Morris Harvey
Cam Henderson – 1935 – 31 to 0 win over Concord
Pete Pederson – 1950 – A case of being the man that followed the man. 51 to 6 loss to Morehead
Herb Royer – 1953 – 7 – 0 loss at Virginia Tech
Charlie Snyder – 1959 – Loss 46 to 0 to VMI
Perry Moss – 1968 – 7 to 7 tie at Morehead
Rick Tolley – 1969 – 27 to 14 loss against Morehead
Jack Lengyel – 1971 – 29 to 6 loss against Morehead
Frank Ellwood – 1975 – Lost 20 to 8 against Akron
Sonny Randle – 1979 – 31 to 14 win against Toledo
Stan Parrish – 1984 – 33 to 10 win over West Virginia Tech
George Chaump – 1986 – 42 to 0 win over West Virginia Tech
Jim Donnan – 1990 - 28 to 14 win over Morehead State
Bob Pruett – 1996 – 55 to 27 win over Howard
Mark Snyder – 2005 – 36 to 24 win over William and Mary
Doc Holliday – 2010 – 45 to 7 loss at Ohio State
The previous 29 head coaches at Marshall are 15 – 10 – 4 in their first games at the helm. Doc Holliday’s loss at Ohio State is the only time a first-time head coach at Marshall has lost their opener since 1975. Sonny Randle was the only head coach in that time frame to notch a win against a FBS (I-A) school over the same time frame.
In conclusion. The question for Coach Huff is not if he can match Doc Holliday for wins against FBS schools, or Bob Pruett’s all time wins its can he be as good as Archer freaking Reilly. He coached one season of college football in his life. He started out on top, and rode into the Huntington sunset with a career 8 – 0 record. It wasn’t just the win loss record. It was the fact he took over a team that had been outscored by 338 points the previous year, went 8 – 0 while giving up only 13 total points. He then left, and Marshall failed to score the next season.
Where did Reilly go, he left to be the baseball coach at Marshall.
So, will Coach Huff match the success of Archer Reilly? No, but not even his previous boss, Nick Saban, could do that either and he has turned out to be decent.
Until then, welcome Head Coach Charles Huff!