Tony Gibson

What’s this experience like, getting a head coaching job in the state where you grew up?

It’s surreal to see everything you worked up to in 30 years finally lead to this moment at a place that’s so special for my wife, myself and my kids. To get this job this close to home is special; both of my kids were born in Charleston, my wife is from Glenville, and I’m from Van, West Virginia.

What has it been like to realize you’re the head coach at Marshall University?

You look for this when you become a head coach: to do it at a school that means so much to so many people. You want to be surrounded by people who care and have the same vision and goals. And here, everywhere I go, whether it’s downtown or at the mall or Sheetz for my coffee in the morning, people are gung-ho about Marshall football. I never thought I’d be taking pictures with someone at Sheetz at 5 a.m., but it’s unique to be back and be around this kind of atmosphere and in a town that cares so much about Marshall football.

And Marshall has so much tradition, being the team of the ’90s, all the tradition of winning, and coming off a conference championship now. The expectations that are present are exciting.

When you talk about Marshall football to others, what do you say?

My thing, and what I’ve told recruits, is that Marshall’s always won. They won double national championships in FCS, jumped to FBS, and won the MAC. They won Conference USA, and now they’ve won the Sun Belt. Every level that Marshall has been in, they’ve won, and that’s our goal.

Someone asked what the year one expectation was, and I’ve only got one goal, to be Sun Belt champions, that’s the goal we’re going to stick with. And I want to be the first team from the Sun Belt to be in the college football playoff. Can we do it in year one? I don’t know, but we’re going to give it hell.

Has there been anything that’s surprised you so far about this position or the surroundings?

It’s infectious around here. Anywhere you go around this town, they know who the coach of Marshall football is. The support is overwhelming, and all the people have reached out. They ask what we need and how they can help.

There is one thing that has surprised me, and that’s a hidden gem when I think about Huntington: all the places to eat. I think I’ve gained 20 pounds in about a month and a half here. I wasn’t expecting that.

What is it about being a coach that made you decide to make a career out of if?

It’s being able to help guys get to where they want to go, and that same situation helped me get to where I wanted to be as a coach. Coaches were a big part of my life — the support and the respect I had for my coaches. I had guys that cared about me and my family and still stay in touch with me to this day, and that’s the kind of relationship I want to have with my players. That’s how I’ve set it up in my 30 years of coaching. We’re going to coach them hard and love them harder, and we’re going to hold guys accountable.

And I think we can change lives and help kids that want our help, and that’s our No. 1 goal.

What do you want people to know about Tony Gibson, the man and not the coach?

I strive to be a great husband, a great father and a great grandfather. I have two grandkids and I want to set them up as much as possible. Some coaches take themselves way too seriously, and they think they’re higher and have more power and all those things. I want to be a part of the Huntington community. I want to be a part of Marshall University and Marshall Athletics and be who I am.

How do you want your Marshall football program to look on the field?

The biggest thing when I think of our team on the field to open the season in Athens, Georgia, is that we’re going to play with a little bit of an edge. We’re going to be physical as a football team. We’re going to play extremely hard. I know this state is proud. It’s built on toughness and grit with the coal mining industry, the steel, and all those things that we pride ourselves on in West Virginia, and we’ll pride ourselves on representing that.

I want our fanbase, administration and players to be proud of what we’re building, and I hope that shows.

How important is the state of West Virginia to the Marshall football program?

It’s important for the kids and coaches in Huntington to know we care about them, but also the kids that are part of our footprint, our home state and the surrounding area. We have to go through every holler and every mountain community off a dirt road, wherever we have to go to get to these high schools because there may be a hidden gem somewhere, and we never want to miss one from our home state. It’s very important to me, to our staff, that we cover this state.

We get a bad rap in this state, that there isn’t talent. There are kids that are good enough to help us win, and we have to find them. We’re going to make sure we hit every avenue we can to make that happen.

Has it sunk in that you’re the head coach?

Sometimes, you get busy working and recruiting, and it feels like it used to be as an assistant. I forget that I’m the head coach. And then all of a sudden, you’re like, whoa, I have to make that decision, or I have to do whatever. Every once in a while, it hits me, and I’m sure once we start spring practice, it’s going to be surreal, so I’m looking forward to that. But I love it so far.