Ed Saad watches the fame with family as the Marshall University men's soccer team takes on Coastal Carolina on Saturday, September 4, 2021, at Hoops Family Field in Huntington, WV.
Former Herd soccer coaches reunite at MU game
HUNTINGTON, September 4, 2021 — For Ed Saad and Sam Hood, seeing Marshall University soccer was like leaving a one-room shack and returning to a mansion.
Saad, the Thundering Herd’s first men’s soccer coach, and Hood, the program’s second leader, attended Saturday’s 3-3 tie with Coastal Carolina at Hoops Family Field. The defending national champion, Marshall came a long way from the patchwork team it was in 1979 when Saad put together a team.
“The biggest challenge was to get 11 players on the bus for away games,” said Saad, who lives in Dubai and before Saturday hadn’t been to Huntington since 1980. “We managed.”
Saad tried to schedule road games on weekends so he’d have enough players, as often they weren’t allowed out of class to play. That more than once led to delaying a bus departure until players could make it. Sometimes it meant throwing a jersey on a manager and letting him play in jeans shorts and tennis shoes.
That first Marshall squad went 1-11-1. A year later it went 3-14. Hood, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, took over in 1981 and went 6-8-2 before giving way to Jack Defazio who went 13-6 in 1982 and 55-66-4 before turning the program over to John Gibson. In five seasons, Gibson went 33-57-12. Scott Fischer went 4-12-2 in 1994. Bob Gray, who also attended Saturday’s game, took over in 1995 and went 293-112-24 in 22 seasons.
When Gray retired, Chris Grassie took over and is 46-25-12 with two NCAA Tournament appearances and a national championship.
“It should have been me,” Gray said, drawing laughter from Saad and Hood “I’m just kidding. What Chris has done is unbelievable. They get full crowds and have a beautiful new facility. There is potential for an unbelievable schedule.”
Defazio and Gibson hoped to be at Saturday’s game, but had games of their own. Defazio is an assistant at Cabell Midland High School, which played at Parkersburg, and Gibson is head coach at Springfield College in Massachusetts and had a contest at Massachusetts-Boston.
“Ironically, when I got hired and Sam was the head of the search committee, he told the athletic staff that the first team to ever win a national championship at Marshall would be soccer,” Gray said.
Hood possessed vision beyond what he imagined possible in the early days of Herd soccer. A slender budget was one of several challenges the team faced playing at Fairfield Stadium and its outdoor-carpet-on-concrete artificial turf.
“I never dreamed of a national championship,” Hood said. “I literally didn’t. I thought the ultimate for Marshall soccer would be able to compete with the big-time teams. I never thought about beating them.”
In 1996, Marshall upset No. 2 Duke 2-1 in Durham, North Carolina. Until 2020, that was the keynote victory in program history. In the NCAA Tournament last season, Marshall beat undefeated Fordham, No. 1-ranked Clemson, No. 8 Georgetown, No. 16 North Carolina and, in the title game, No. 3 Indiana.
“Just be consistently competitive with top 25 teams, that’s all I wanted,” Hood said. “I didn’t think you could beat them all in one year.”
Saad said when people ask where he’s from, he tells them, “West Virginia, can’t you tell by my accent.” Saad laughed with those around him in the stands at Saturday’s game.
“It’s absolutely great to be back and see this team and my friends, but to particularly see what an amazing thing this team has become,” Saad said. “I’m proud of this team. It was worth coming all the way from Dubai to see what this team has become. I started day one and then Sam and Jack and Bob and Chris have built it to what it has become.”
Tim Stephens is a sports writer with The Herald-Dispatch.
HUNTINGTON, September 4, 2021 — For Ed Saad and Sam Hood, seeing Marshall University soccer was like leaving a one-room shack and returning to a mansion.
Saad, the Thundering Herd’s first men’s soccer coach, and Hood, the program’s second leader, attended Saturday’s 3-3 tie with Coastal Carolina at Hoops Family Field. The defending national champion, Marshall came a long way from the patchwork team it was in 1979 when Saad put together a team.
“The biggest challenge was to get 11 players on the bus for away games,” said Saad, who lives in Dubai and before Saturday hadn’t been to Huntington since 1980. “We managed.”
Saad tried to schedule road games on weekends so he’d have enough players, as often they weren’t allowed out of class to play. That more than once led to delaying a bus departure until players could make it. Sometimes it meant throwing a jersey on a manager and letting him play in jeans shorts and tennis shoes.
That first Marshall squad went 1-11-1. A year later it went 3-14. Hood, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, took over in 1981 and went 6-8-2 before giving way to Jack Defazio who went 13-6 in 1982 and 55-66-4 before turning the program over to John Gibson. In five seasons, Gibson went 33-57-12. Scott Fischer went 4-12-2 in 1994. Bob Gray, who also attended Saturday’s game, took over in 1995 and went 293-112-24 in 22 seasons.
When Gray retired, Chris Grassie took over and is 46-25-12 with two NCAA Tournament appearances and a national championship.
“It should have been me,” Gray said, drawing laughter from Saad and Hood “I’m just kidding. What Chris has done is unbelievable. They get full crowds and have a beautiful new facility. There is potential for an unbelievable schedule.”
Defazio and Gibson hoped to be at Saturday’s game, but had games of their own. Defazio is an assistant at Cabell Midland High School, which played at Parkersburg, and Gibson is head coach at Springfield College in Massachusetts and had a contest at Massachusetts-Boston.
“Ironically, when I got hired and Sam was the head of the search committee, he told the athletic staff that the first team to ever win a national championship at Marshall would be soccer,” Gray said.
Hood possessed vision beyond what he imagined possible in the early days of Herd soccer. A slender budget was one of several challenges the team faced playing at Fairfield Stadium and its outdoor-carpet-on-concrete artificial turf.
“I never dreamed of a national championship,” Hood said. “I literally didn’t. I thought the ultimate for Marshall soccer would be able to compete with the big-time teams. I never thought about beating them.”
In 1996, Marshall upset No. 2 Duke 2-1 in Durham, North Carolina. Until 2020, that was the keynote victory in program history. In the NCAA Tournament last season, Marshall beat undefeated Fordham, No. 1-ranked Clemson, No. 8 Georgetown, No. 16 North Carolina and, in the title game, No. 3 Indiana.
“Just be consistently competitive with top 25 teams, that’s all I wanted,” Hood said. “I didn’t think you could beat them all in one year.”
Saad said when people ask where he’s from, he tells them, “West Virginia, can’t you tell by my accent.” Saad laughed with those around him in the stands at Saturday’s game.
“It’s absolutely great to be back and see this team and my friends, but to particularly see what an amazing thing this team has become,” Saad said. “I’m proud of this team. It was worth coming all the way from Dubai to see what this team has become. I started day one and then Sam and Jack and Bob and Chris have built it to what it has become.”
Tim Stephens is a sports writer with The Herald-Dispatch.