Print |
E-mail to a friend
SPORTS
University hires a 'Marshall guy'
Marshall University named former Thundering Herd football player Mike Hamrick as its athletic director during a press conference Monday, July 20, 2009, in Huntington.
Purchase this photo
Related:
HUNTINGTON -- Frankly, Mike Hamrick looked the part of Tom Watson Monday afternoon.
Introduced as Marshall University's new athletic director, the 1980 Thundering Herd graduate and former football player wore much more of a 30-something mode. Yes, age 51 is the new 31, but still his enthusiasm of returning to an alma mater was beyond obvious.
Watson wowed the sporting world last weekend as a 59-year-old golfer one putt from winning the British Open. Hamrick is hardly a senior, and he looks the part of a young person in a young person's profession.
This was a job he wanted. Just as important, Marshall officials approached him first, urging the former UNLV, East Carolina and Arkansas-Little Rock athletic director to return home. Many people in attendance for Monday's introduction more than understood.
"He was a football player here. I was a football player here," Thundering Herd head football coach Mark Snyder said. "We both got our degrees from here. We both have a passion for this place. That's important and I look forward to working with him.
"There are a lot of things to do, but it's important to reach out to a Marshall guy who can reach out to our fan base.
"He stands for integrity -- all of the things I stood for along with my father."
Women's basketball head coach Royce Chadwick isn't Tri-State born and raised, but the Texas native is embraced, both for his frank demeanor and his winning teams. He doesn't share Marshall dorm-day stories with Snyder, but appreciates Hamrick's draw to leave Las Vegas for Huntington.
"I think it's important that we got a Marshall guy back here," Chadwick said. "We've got somebody who knows what Marshall is all about.
"We know that we get our women's basketball supporters one at a time and that's what Marshall University is all about, and he said we're going to get our supporters one at a time.
"That's what we've done with women's basketball and I think that's what he's going to do with the entire athletic department. It's a new chapter for us.
"Number one, that's how we make things happen for our program. We try to let people get to know our players and then they're more apt to come to our games and participate."
Hamrick, who assumes his Marshall athletic director duties full-time in mid-August, potentially fills a pair of noticeable needs with Thundering Herd athletics -- fundraising and facility upgrades.
Fundraising has been an issue in part because alumni haven't been asked to give back. Snyder and Hamrick's predecessor, Bob Marcum, have invited former student-athletes to give back go the university, a trend Hamrick plans to accelerate.
"If you don't ask them, you rarely have people stopping by your office saying, 'Hey, I want to give you some money,'" Chadwick said. "You have to go out and beat the drum."
