16-05-2025
Gibson, local natives set for annual Marshall golf outing at Grandview
Marshall sports fans in southern West Virginia will have the chance to greet the new football coach. The day will also serve as a homecoming for a few area natives who now call the university their home.
The 35th annual Big Green Golf Outing at Grandview Country Club will be held on Monday. It is sponsored Marshall University Southern Coalfields Alumni and is part of the Big Green Coaches Tour.
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Tony Gibson, who was introduced as the Thundering Herd's new head football coach in December, will be there. Gibson, a native of Van in Boone County, is back in his home state for his first stint as a head coach after a career that has taken him to Cumberland, Michigan, Pitt, Arizona and N.C. State.
Of course, his career started at Glenville State under Rich Rodriguez, who he followed to West Virginia University. Gibson had a second stint with the Mountaineers from 2014-2018.
The golf outing will also have a feel even closer to home with the presence of Gibson's defensive coordinator Shannon Morrison, head men's basketball coach Corny Jackson and his associate head coach Rob Fulford.
Morrison and Jackson are both Oak Hill graduates, and Fulford is a Mullens native.
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Morrison played at Marshall and was a member of the 1992 Division I-AA national championship team, as well as two national runners-up in 1991 and 1993. He is now in his fourth stint as an assistant coach with the Herd. He also has stops at Sam Houston State, Eastern Kentucky, Ball State, Cincinnati, Memphis, Bowling Green, Lehigh, Southeast Missouri and Hampden-Sydney.
Jackson just completed his first season as the head men's basketball coach, guiding the Herd to a 20-13 record and a spot in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. He had spent the previous six seasons as an assistant and later associate to head coach Dan D'Antoni.
D'Antoni is a Mullens native, and that's where Jackson went for his associate head coach.
Fulford, a graduate of storied Mullens High, joined Jackson for his first season after spending the previous seven as an assistant at Akron. Before that, Fulford was an assistant at Missouri for three seasons.
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Fulford, a Marshall alumnus, had been an assistant coach at Mountain State University and the head coach at Mountain State University under Bob Bolen. He then went on to a successful career as the head coach at Huntington Prep, where he guided such players as No. 1 NBA Draft pick Andrew Wiggins, NBA Draft lottery pick Miles Bridges and first round pick Gorgui Dieng.
Also on hand will be head women's golf coach Brooke Burkhammer, a Cabell Midland alumna, as well as John Sutherland, Marshall's Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development and the Executive Director of the Big Green Scholarship Foundation. On Wednesday, the university announced that Sutherland will be retiring effective June 3 after 24 years at Marshall.
Opportunities to play in and/or advertise with the outing are available. A sponsorship package of $250 is good for signage, golf for one, drinks, lunch and dinner. Additional golfers cost $150 each. Cost for signs only is $125.
Individual golf packages (golf, drinks, lunch and dinner) are $150.
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There will be contests, pink tees and mulligan packages for $20 each.
Registration will run from 10-11:30 a.m. and play will open with a shotgun start at noon. Lunch will be provided Subway/Little General.
Dinner, provided by Pasquale's, will be served after golf is complete. Anyone wanting to attend dinner only can do so for $25.
The annual Golf Ball Drop Fundraiser will also be held. Go to Facebook and like the Marshall University Southern Coalfields Alumni and Big Green Club page for details.
For all this and any sponsorship questions, the following are available:
Larry Foster (304-573-5336), Larry Canterbury (304-633-6474), Doug Leeber (304-266-8766), Miranda Elkins (304-894-2636) and Amanda Ashley (304-890-9215).
