Cheez-Its, donations, and a flood of media interviews have all greeted Marshall since it beat Notre Dame. But coach Charles Huff is keenly aware of how important the next steps are for the Herd, ByPatForde writes
Aaron Perkins has a green-and-black wedding ring that hints at the depth of his allegiance to Marshall University. His three children all have middle names tied to the school. He hasn’t missed a home football game since the mid-1990s and goes to most of the road games as well.
They’re still reveling here in Huntington, W.Va., in this narrow strip of flat land tucked between the Appalachian Mountains and the Ohio River. Still walking on air. The bond is tight between town and team, and has been since that awful day in 1970. This was the best football moment in half a century, and they’re not letting go of it anytime soon.
Huff is 39 years old and in his second season as a head coach at any level. He’s been in charge for just 15 games. But his resolve to push forward past that landmark win is the mindset of a veteran head coach—a Nick Saban mindset, you could say. One victory—even over Notre Dame—does not make a season or a coaching career. There is more work to be done.At 5:55 p.m. Saturday, when quarterback Henry Colombi took a knee and ended the upset of Notre Dame, the Thundering Herd athletic department sprang into action to seize the seismic moment. One school’s football disaster is another school’s financial windfall, and this was a triumph worth savoring—and marketing.
After winning a couple of FCS national championships in the 1990s, Marshall has found ways to succeed at the FBS level. It has had enough going for it to field a competitive team on an annual basis, with a few historic breakthroughs. And it has had a way of succeeding whoever the coach is—six of the last seven won at least 60% of their games.
“When you’re not a good player but a good kid, they keep trying to give you opportunities,” Huff says. “I was too small to play O-line but too slow to play running back. I was smart enough that they wanted to keep me around to tell the good players what to do. Center is the last position on the football team, and that was my last position. At that point, it’s either center or manager. I hung on to the last seat on the bus.
His recruiting prowess, already established, took a leap upward while with the Crimson Tide. After Alabama won the national championship in January 2021 and the Marshall job opened somewhat unexpectedly a few days earlier, the opportunity to become a head coach presented itself. After an opening rout of Norfolk State, the year-over-year improvement was on display at Notre Dame. While the result was a shock, it wasn’t a fluke—the Herd outgained the Irish and led for more than half the game.
He seized it at Notre Dame, rushing for 161 yards on 31 carries and powering the offense late in the game. Nearly three years removed from his last Division I playing time, Laborn now has consecutive 100-yard games for the Herd. On a team full of new faces, he’s been one of the most welcome additions.
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