Tony Gibson returns to his roots in West Virginia and stands ready to lead the Thundering Herd to greener pastures.
By Keith Morehouse
HQ 131 | AUTUMN 2025
If football is the ultimate team sport, then golf is its polar opposite. Tony Gibson loves them both. But in the rolling hills of Van, West Virginia, where Gibson grew up, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for him to tee it up. Even if there were, Gibson wouldn’t have noticed. The only ball he cared about was oblong with laces, not round with dimples.
“I didn’t know what a golf ball or a golf club was in Van,” Gibson said.
When the former Van High School Bulldog left home to play college football at Glenville State University, he learned the game from a familiar name in West Virginia athletics.
“Ed Hamrick, the father of former Marshall University Athletic Director Mike Hamrick, is the one who taught me how to golf at Glenville Country Club,” Gibson said. “Hardest game I’ve ever tried.”
Golf, along with spending time with his family, is one of the few diversions Gibson has allowed himself to enjoy since he was hired as the Herd’s 32nd football coach. The first couple of weeks in July provide football coaches a rare window of downtime before fall camp begins.
“The week of July 4, we had our grandkids down in Huntington and enjoyed the pool,” Gibson said. “Then at the end of summer, we took the staff to Glade Springs. We got to golf at the Greenbrier one day and Glade Springs one day, and we took all the wives. It’s good to get them away in that kind of atmosphere before I take their husbands away for six months.”
The first few months of Gibson’s first college head coaching job may have been even more intense than most. He inherited a team that won the Sun Belt Conference championship, but 19 of those players followed former Head Coach Charles Huff to the University of Southern Mississippi at the end of the season. Eventually more than 30 players entered the transfer portal, leaving Gibson with the monumental task of recruiting 60 new players to rebuild the Marshall roster.
“It was a lot harder because of the volume of kids we lost,” Gibson said. “So, the recruiting component of my job was even harder than I anticipated. The good news is, with our brand, with our tradition, with our fan support, and this being such a special place, it’s not hard to recruit here. Kids know what this logo means across the country.”
Gibson had to make the most of his opportunities in spring practice. He brought in transfer quarterbacks Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (Syracuse University) and Zion Turner (Jacksonville State University) to bolster the depth at that position. Del Rio-Wilson has emerged as the front-runner, with Turner pushing him for the starting position.
“I’d say probably about the second or third week of spring ball, Coach Gibson was drilling it in my head that I’m going to have to be a leader,” said Del Rio-Wilson. “I tried to assume a leadership role and become more vocal with my teammates, and we did come together a lot more.”
While the Herd roster makeover is complete heading into the 2025 season, the college football preseason magazine crowd isn’t giving Marshall much of a shot at defending its conference title. The Sun Belt coaches met in New Orleans for football media days in late July and picked the Herd sixth out of seven teams in the East division. The Herd players tried to ignore the talk.
“We all go out together, no matter which position group, and I feel like that’s good,” defensive back Cam Smith said at the podium in New Orleans. “The relationships you’ve built on and off the field, they help you when you’re out there playing with each other on Saturdays.”
But numbers don’t lie. According to ESPN metrics, Marshall has the least amount of returning “production” among the 136 teams in the FBS. It makes sense that the prognosticators don’t have high hopes for the Herd.
Coach Gibson is not concerned with what the Herd lost, but rather what the team gained in recruiting. He’s also not afraid to name-drop. Gibson said University of Akron transfer Adrian Norton can make an impact in the wide receiver room. He mentioned running back transfers Justin Williams-Thomas (University of California, Berkeley) and Tony Mathis Jr. (University of Houston) as playmakers. He also spoke highly of Mississippi State transfer Javae Gilmore. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound linebacker made his presence felt in the Green-White Game.
“My expectations are very high for this season,” said Gilmore after the spring game. “I feel like we came in this spring and handled our business. We had a lot to get to and learn as a team, and it’s been good. I’m excited for the fall.”
On defense, the team’s secondary has been reinforced by transfers Marvae Myers (Middle Tennessee State University) and Boogie Trotter (Tennessee State). In the Green-White Game Trotter had two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown.
“Coach Gibson was a defensive coordinator, so it’s been easier getting the pieces together as a unit,” said Trotter after the game. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ll be ready.”
There were plenty of off-the-field activities that allowed Herd players to get to know each other and develop chemistry before their first game on Aug. 30. Two days before fall camp, Coach Gibson had his players take the mile run down 20th Street to the Marshall Memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery. For many of the players, the hallowed ground where the granite cenotaph sits is the foundation of Marshall football.
“I’ve never done this,” offensive lineman Jalen Slappy said of running to the memorial. “They did this a couple years back before I came here, but it means everything. We needed the team bonding, and I’ve been trying to preach to the team we need to get more involved with the 75. A lot of them have seen the We Are Marshall movie but don’t really understand the story. We’re playing for Marshall, but we’re also playing for the 75.”
Gibson said he hopes that bonding carries over to the 2025 season. He doesn’t plan to hide behind the hedges when the Thundering Herd goes to Athens to face the top 5-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the opener. The “Dawgs” have claimed two national titles and one runner-up finish in the last eight years.
Gibson takes the challenge head-on. His hard-nosed philosophy comes from his time as a Van Bulldog, to his defensive coordinator positions at West Virginia and N.C. State and as an assistant head coach with stints at Arizona and Michigan.
“I didn’t come here to be average. I came here to win championships,” Gibson said. “I want our team to hit people in the mouth on both sides of the ball. I want the opposing coach to shake my hand after the game and say, ‘Wow, that was a physical football game.’ If we do that, the scoreboard will take care of itself.”
Those golf clubs and tee times can wait until next spring.
