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Bob Pruett (former Marshall coach)

From what little I can gather on the MU boards there is a lot of speculation that its an internal power struggle situation.

Apparently he won the battle of placing the blame for the jobs-for-players scandal on someone else and lost the war because the new president forced him out because of it.

At least thats how I understood it from them so take it fwiw.

Only reason I care at all is Snyder.
 
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Part of me would not have minded seeing snyder go if we did not have such an tough early portion of our schedule. It would have also been nice to have him depart earlier in the year, so we could have picked up Auburn's DC or someone like that. As it stands, if Snyder takes off our trump card for Sep 10 gets a little uncertain. However, many on this board would agree that Snyder seems headed elsewhere in teh near future, and from what I hear he's kind of a lousy recruiter. Not that I want him gone, just that I think another DC could do as well as he did and be a better recruiter as well.
 
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Summation of the day: According to the scout site in huntington....and they were about dead on....

suddenly this morning, with no warning at all (less than 1 hours worth), Marshall contacted the media to let them know a presser was being held at 10:30...

it quickly got out (9:40ish) that the reason for the presser was that pruett was resigning.....it was a surprise....

pruett cited family reasons....saying he has ten years left and he wants to spend them with his grandkids....
 
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Still sounds like health issue to me... If so, I hope everythign turns out well for him, and if it really is to spend time with his family then I hope he enjoys that too.
 
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link

Bob Pruett Retires
By Woody Woodrum, Senior Editor, Herd Insider
Date: Mar 9, 2005

Bob Pruett, one of the most successful coaches in college football and the all-time winningest coach in Marshall Football history with 94 victories, has tendered his resignation to Marshall University Interim President Michael J. Farrell stating his decision to retire from coaching college football. Pruett, who has been the head coach at Marshall for nine seasons, said despite what people may speculate, "It was just time. I've been coaching 40 years and it's just time."


Pruett led Marshall to a 15-0 season in his first year in 1996, coaching the Herd to a Southern Conference and I-AA National Championship as the Herd prepared to jump to Division I-A football for the first time since 1981. Marshall kept right on winning under Pruett in I-A, recording a 10-3 mark in 1997, his first of five Mid-American Conference titles and sending the Herd to its first bowl in 50 years in losing to Mississippi in the first Motor City Bowl. The Herd would win the 1998 MCB over Louisville for Marshall's first bowl victory, then record a national best four more wins to make five bowl victories in a row, including wins over BYU and Cincinnati in Motor City Bowls and wins over East Carolina and Louisville in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.


Pruett was emotional at the announcement of his retirement, held at the Marshall football offices on Wednesday morning.

"It's not heath related," said Pruett to a hastily called press conference at the Shewey Athletic Center on Wednesday morning. "I'm 62 years old. I've got about 10 years to live or 10 years to die and I want to live. The future very bright for Marshall. We've got an outstanding recruiting class and good players here." Pruett met with his players early this morning to tell them first, then with MU President Farrell and his staff. Pruett recommended Kueck for the head coach ing position, with spring football scheduled to start Friday at 3:00 p.m. as the Herd prepares for season one in Conference USA this fall.

"It's a bittersweet day," said Kueck, who in 30 years has coached at C-USA members Southern Methodist, Southern Miss and Rice. "Very few assistant coaches don't aspire to be head coaches. It's bitter because you may not know how close Bob Pruett and I are." Kueck was offensive coordinator for the Herd in 1996, then spent the next five years at in Dallas with the Mustangs of SMU and in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with the Golden Eagles of USM. "When I left in 1996, Bob and I talked every Sunday for five years. I'm really going to miss seeing my friend every day."

Pruett thanked many individuals who helped him build the Marshall program, both as an assistant for Sonny Randle here at Marshall from 1979-82 and as head coach. Pruett, a three-sport, nine letter winner here at Marshall, also became broken up many times in the press conference but never more than when he mentioned his wife Elsie, who he met and married while they were Marshall students. "I want to thank my guiding light and the love of my life, who is Elsie," said Pruett. " I couldn't do anything without her."

Pruett coached MU to four top-25 rankings and finished 10th in the nation in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls in 1999, when the Herd posted a second undefeated season under Pruett of 13-0. He had the highest winning percentage of any D-IA coach with at least six year's experience, winning over 80 percent of his games at Marshall. Marshall has had 12 players drafted into the National Football League under Pruett, with Josh Davis and Johnathan Goddard likely to follow this year, and sent 30 players to the league. That would give Marshall a player drafted in six consecutive years, including NFL stars like NY Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, Oakland Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich. Pruett is a member of the MU Athletic Hall of Fame and was honored as National Coach of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 1999, as well as being four time West Virginia Coach of the Year and twice named as MAC Coach of the Year.
 
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pruett cited family reasons....saying he has ten years left and he wants to spend them with his grandkids....

When he says "he has ten years left", that's kind of spooky...like he knows he's not going to live past 70. Health issues have to be playing a part in this.
 
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Just got off the phone with a very reliable source from Marshall....

While Pruett does suffer from diabetes...it is not a serious health issue that forced him away....end of that rumor.....

Coaching did not force Pruett away....he still wants to coach....end of that rumor...

It was all the other stuff that ran him off.....most importantly dealing with boosters and all the crap that surrounds being a coach now......i'm sure coach tressel knows full well what pruett is feeling...
 
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Keith Morehouse, long-time sports anchor at WSAZ TV in Huntington speculated on the 6 o'clock newscast that the pressure to compete in the CUSA with a MAC budget might have gotten to Bob. This comment leads me to believe that Bob expected the move to CUSA to bring about more $ in the football budget, and maybe it hasn't materialized. I don't know. I'm just speculating on Keith Morehouse's speculation.
 
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i don't see where the cusa is any better than the mac.....so...i dont think the competition was daunting....in fact, i think that was a motivating factor for him staying...winning the cusa....

however; i did hear that there were internal struggles about $$.....
 
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Alan said:
i don't see where the cusa is any better than the mac.....so...i dont think the competition was daunting....in fact, i think that was a motivating factor for him staying...winning the cusa....

however; i did hear that there were internal struggles about $$.....


I guess I could see a little bit of financial struggle going on, but come on....

It's not like Marshall is tearing it up anywhere else, football is just about all they got. You would think that they would almost give him Cart Blance.
 
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