Marshall gears up to host its first Conference USA championship this fall.
Ask any Thundering Herd fan. There’s no doubt Marshall University athletics has a championship pedigree. No matter the sport, a tally of important wins since the university fielded its first teams more than 120 years ago is impressive, and yields numbers schools twice Marshall’s size would be proud to call their own.
Wins in stadiums all over the country — and Marshall has plenty of them on the books — are one thing, but victory at home is even sweeter. Marshall hopes to do just that this fall when the school hosts the 2016 Conference USA men’s soccer championship on the Hoops Family Field at the Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex in Huntington.
“I was absolutely thrilled,” said Coach Bob Gray when asked how he felt about hearing Marshall was selected to host the soccer championship tournament. Gray, a coaching legend at Marshall, enters his 21st season with the soccer team this fall. His more than 400 wins in his 39 total seasons of coaching ranks him among the top five active NCAA Division I coaches. While the team has competed for championships under Gray’s tenure, this will be the first time Marshall serves as host.
“We get to showcase our program and our facility, and bring attention to our community and city,” Gray said. The Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex, built on the site of the old Veterans Memorial Field House at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 26th Street, is in its third year after completion of the $9 million project in 2013.
For many years, hosting the championship would have been tricky for Marshall. For one, there was a lack of a hosting facility like the new soccer complex. And, until recently, Gray said C-USA by-laws prevented championships from even being played on fields like Marshall’s, which is covered in artificial turf. While play on artificial turf is becoming more common in the sport, due to its lower maintenance costs and durability compared to grass, many teams do not have the kind of access to such practice facilities and fields like Marshall does.
“We’re the only one in the conference with turf like this,” Gray said. He admitted it creates a bit of a home field advantage.
But some backroom politicking sealed the deal. “Mike (Hamrick) deserves the credit for getting us here,” Gray said, adding that Marshall’s athletic director sold the team’s state-of-the-art 1,006-seat soccer stadium as a viable place for a championship.
Discussions on where to play all 2016 C-USA championships started about a year ago, but the final decision came in June during a conference Board of Directors meeting. One year after playing in the championship game, Marshall soccer would host its first conference championship.
In those meetings, Hamrick was bold. “I told them we wanted to host men’s and women’s soccer,” he said. “He made it happen,” Gray added.
While a first for Marshall soccer, the tournament is only the third C-USA championship of any sport to come to the Jewel City. Previous championships include the 2014 football championship in the Joan C. Edwards Stadium and the 2007 volleyball tournament at the Cam Henderson Center. Marshall soccer was set to host a championship in the 2000s when the Thundering Herd was part of the Mid-American Conference, but bad weather caused the tournament to be moved to another school.
Hamrick said Marshall’s soccer complex was the reason why conference officials agreed to host the championship in Huntington. He also touted Marshall’s reputation in college athletics.
“It’s one of the top soccer facilities in college athletics. And we don’t just think that; we know it,” Hamrick said. “They wouldn’t have voted to bring it here if they didn’t think we’d do an excellent job of hosting.”
The tournament is played in three games over five days, alternating in a Wednesday-Friday-Sunday format. The top seven of the conference’s nine teams will compete. Marshall advanced to last year’s championship final in Charlotte as a No. 7 seed, and beat Charlotte and South Carolina before losing to Florida International. Other schools playing C-USA men’s soccer include Florida Atlantic, Kentucky, New Mexico, Old Dominion and UAB.
There are benefits of hosting the championship, which will be shown on national television. For instance, Gray said the tournament will help advance the soccer program’s profile as it brings attention to Marshall and Huntington that otherwise would not have been received. “This only benefits our future, and will help us bring in top-notch players,” he added.
“When you bring in that many teams with traveling parties of 35 to 40 people — there’s fans, family, media — and they’re here for three or four days eating at our restaurants, staying in our hotels and shopping at our stores, there will be an economic impact,” Hamrick said. Add that to the estimated $397.7 million impact the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission says Marshall has on its community and the state.
The economic impact will be welcome, but the spotlight comes during a difficult transition for the team, which graduated eight seniors last year. “It’s tough to replace that kind of experience,” Gray said.
While the team is trying to integrate new players, Gray said he is confident.
“I feel we did a good job of bringing in new talent,” he said. “Half the squad will be new faces, but that’s not always bad.” That’s because new players, competing for playing time, sometimes push themselves to the next level. Gray said he expects that to translate to wins on the field.
But the season won’t be an easy one for Marshall. Conference USA is one of the top in collegiate soccer, and the team isn’t guaranteed an automatic bid to the tournament.
“We’re going to come out of the gate with a lot of the momentum from last year,” Gray said, adding that the team exceeded expectations last year and can do it again this year. In 2015, Marshall was projected to come in eighth place out of nine in the conference, but the team fought its way to seventh for a bid to the championship tournament.
Projections for this year continue to underestimate the team’s potential. “It’s disappointing to be eight out of nine again this year,” Gray said. “But it’s motivation to get there again.”
No matter the season’s outcome, Gray said he hopes the community embraces Marshall soccer the way it does the football and basketball programs.
“Let’s fill the stands up every game. Soccer is the No. 1 sport in the world. It’s time for us to get on board and create an electrifying atmosphere.”
This fall, the team will play 18 games — nine at home and nine away. Only seven will advance to the C-USA championship tournament. The team that wins will go on to compete in the NCAA tournament, but it’s not uncommon for runners-up to get bids as well.
“In the past, four teams have gotten in,” Gray said. “That’s half our conference.”
Either way, Gray said he likes his team’s odds. Should Marshall make it to the championship tournament, Gray expects familiarity with the turf and colder temperatures to give them team a home-field advantage.
Samuel Speciale is a writer and freelance photographer based in Charleston, West Virginia. He graduated from Marshall University in 2013 with a degree in print journalism.
Photo: (Second from top) The Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex was a major in Marshall being selected to host the 2016 Conference USA men’s soccer championship.