HUNTINGTON -- Graduating from college in three years is no small feat. Especially for someone who plays sports on top of the academic load.

Pierre-Marie Altidor Cespedes is a student-athlete who pulled it off.

After earning a Broadcasting degree in three years at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., where he played on three nationally-ranked NCAA men's basketball tournament teams, the 23-year-old enrolled at Marshall University as a graduate student with one year of playing eligibility.

Altidor Cespedes will probably be the Thundering Herd starting point guard.

Marshall fans can get a look at the 6-foot, 181-pound player known as "P-Mac" today in an intra-squad scrimmage game at Cam Henderson Center during the 2 to 5 p.m. practice slot.

"Pierre has great experience and energy," first-year Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said. "He has been in three NCAA tournaments and understands what it takes to play at that level."

The Montreal, Quebec, native was cleared by the NCAA as a transfer to Marshall with one year to play. Altidor Cespedes was grandfathered into the rule that allowed a student-athlete to transfer and play immediately if they graduate and still have a fifth year of eligibility remaining. He got in under the deadline because the one-time graduate transfer rule was rescinded.

Altidor Cespedes was familiar with Jones, who recruited him in high school as a University of Florida assistant.

He became aware of the transfer rule as a Gonzaga junior and took classes to get it done. The task was eased because he had some college credits coming out of high school. And, he took summer school classes.

Now, he's working toward a master's in Adult Education and Teaching.

"It's teaching adults," he said. "You can design learning programs for companies."

Altidor Cespedes went to French-speaking schools in Montreal and started learning English as a fourth grader. He speaks Spanish at home because his mother, Clotilde Cespedes, is from Peru. His father, Jean-Pierre Altidor, is from Haiti.

Basketball is his other language.

"The point guard has to play with a purpose and has to know what's going on," he said. "You just do everything you can to win games."

Altidor-Cespedes played on Gonzaga teams that were a combined 78-19 the past three seasons.

He appeared in 98 games, starting 49, with career statistics of 3.2 points a game and 2.1 assists per game. He shot 43.3 percent from the field (107-247); 35.8 percent on three-pointers (43-120) and 71.1 percent at the foul line (54-76).

Gonzaga was 23-11 last season. Marshall was 13-19.

He did some research on last season's Marshall team, noticed a lot of games were close and thought maybe the Herd was a player short.

So, will Marshall improve this season?

"Right now noone knows," he said. "All we can do is work hard."

Marshall plays exhibition games Nov. 1 against Fairmont State and Nov. 6 against West Liberty State before the Nov. 13 season opener against Pikeville College.

Howie McCormick/The Herald-Dispatch

Marshall’s Pierre-Marie Altidor Cespedes, a graduate student transfer from Gonzaga brings NCAA tournament experience to the Herd basketball program.

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