About Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall Thundering Herd football program arrived to the university in 1895 whereas the basketball program took its time and was established in 1907.
The university is located in Conference- USA, East division, NCAA Division I (FBS for football). Their colours are green and white and the mascot, which names is developed from a mix of the university’s name at the time Marshall College,is Marco the Bison, a costumed bison first seen in 1965.
The main rivalries that Marshall faces are with Ohio Bobcats, West Virginia Mountaineers and UCF Knights.
Football program at Marshall has been doing well with all- time record of 574-532-48 and two national titles claimed to their name. The Thundering Herd won 13 conference titles and 8 division titles while appearing in 13 Bowl games, compiling a record of 10-3 which is the highest win percentage among all FBS teams with at least 10 games. The last loss the Marshall experienced in 2004 in Fort Worth Bowl, against Cincinnati Bearcats. Since then the university is on 5 winning game streak.
One of the most decorated Marshall university players in NFL is Troy Brown, drafted in 1993 by the Patriots where he spent all his NFL career becoming one of the most favourite player among the Patriots fans.
Brown, playing wide receiver position contributed to the team winning three Super Bowls as a receiver and punt returner. He was chosen to Pro Bowl once and named to First team All- Pro.
There has been nearly 40 players coming from Marshall who were drafted by NFL team, three of them were first round picks.
Basketball programs struggled in comparison to the gridiron teams and their best times were in the eighties where three out of five appearances in NCAA tournaments happened.
The Thundering Herd won conference tournament titles three times and conference regular season championships four times.
There wasn’t many big names in NBA hailing from this university but Hal Greer had an astonishing career playing guard position for Nationals/76ers. He was NBA champion, 10 times NBA All- Star, including once All Star game MVP.
Greer finished as the 76ers all- time leading scorer and was placed in NBA’s 50th Anniversary All- Time Team and inducted in Basketball Hall of Fame.
It is easy to notice that football takes the priority, especially when compared to basketball but one should not count anyone out of competition in pro leagues knowing they’re coming from the Thundering Herd programs.
