Just HERD this-Bob Pruitt retiring from Marshall

[underpants]

A buddy of mine left me a message-he heard on sports radio that Pruitt has decided to retire. The HERD job is open.

[The Great Escape]

1. Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm......

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/huskies/215133_leve09.html




He knows -- and tells -- truth about NCAA

By JOHN LEVESQUE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

If the NCAA has a heart and a brain, it will promote Bill Saum and David Price, give them enormous raises and tell them they can't have anything to do with enforcing the NCAA's rules anymore.

That would please B. David Ridpath even more than the event that occurred Monday in King County Superior Court.

In the meantime, knowing that the NCAA agreed to pay Rick Neuheisel $2.5 million of a $4.5 million settlement has made Ridpath "absolutely giddy."

Ridpath doesn't like the NCAA.

[Saboburns]

2. Dayum

Huge Herd Fan and Alum here. Took it like a kick to the gut.

Good coach who won a bunch of games with lil financial help from the Uni.

Had some good one-liners too.

I miss him already.

[underpants]

3. Welcome to DU

:hi:

Almost everyone on my mother's side went to Marshall.

We are the sons of Marshall
Sons of the great John Marshall
Every year we go to Marshall U
Root for the team and gain knowledge toooooo

That fight song cracks me up every time.

[ThorsHammer]

4. Any rumors on his successor?

I've been pretty impressed with the talent that has come out of there recently - Moss, Pennington, Leftwhich, the Broncos WR. They always seemed to be one of those mid-majors that hung around the top 20 and could take out an occassional power (IIRC, they should have beaten tOSU and did beat KSU, both on the road). I like seeing a mid-major emerge and remain consistent, and hope that they can get a quality coach to replace him.

[underpants]

5. Not that I have heard-MU has 13 players in the NFL

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/college?letter=m

Strangely Troy Brown isn't included in that list
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/players/2415/

[ThorsHammer]

6. Very impressive; can't believe I forgot Brown

They've definitely done very well for a smaller school, especially one that is in a rural area in a state that isn't loaded with talent.

[underpants]

7. Moss is a local

by way of Notre Dame and Fla. State of course.

Pruitt (Donnan before he-BTW fans couldn't stand him and were overjoyed when he went to Georgia) recruits projects and not quite top tier high schoolers in Southern Ohio, Va., and Florida (lots of UF connections at Marshall).

MU has a PROGRAM for prop48 kids-everyone since prop48 was instituted has graduated.

Here is a better link on MU and the NFL (PDF)17 players

http://www.herdzone.com/sports/football/NFL_Sheet.pdf

[ThorsHammer]

8. Thanks, very interesting

(Watts was the Broncos WR whose name I couldn't get). The local ties couldn't have hurt w/ Moss, and they also did a good job to 'tame' him and keep him off trouble (wasn't he in probation from FSU?). Pruett's development of the not quite top tier players was what really impressed me. IIRC, both Leftwhich and Pennington were solid, but not star players coming in, yet both ended up going in the first round. The DavieHam era at ND had the opposite effect, where we'd get players who came in touted, didn't do much in the system, but worked their way up in the NFL (David Givens, Julius Jones to name a few). I didn't know about MU's Prop48 program, and really like that. It's good to hear that a school is taking a chance on young men and getting them to graduate. Too many schools use their athletic ability but don't take care of the academics, which really hurts them if they aren't among the 0.001% who can go pro.

[underpants]

9. Pennington (as the story goes) was a gift

He is from Tenn. He was going to go to UT and basically get lost in the shuffle so his uncle (someone) sent MU a videotape. They offered him a scholarship. The second game of his freshman year they were AT UT-Chattanooga and QB's 1, 2, and 3 went down*. Chad came in and won the game. He started from then on. He actually redshirted his junior year (I think again all of this is from memory) so that a UFlorida transfer could start. Chad came back the next year.

*-pretty much the same story for Flutie at BC.