By Gary Fauber
Assistant Sports Editor
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The annual Friends of Coal Bowl between Marshall and West Virginia Friday night won’t just serve as Thundering Herd coach Doc Holliday’s debut at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Two new video boards will be used for the first time when the Herd hosts the Mountaineers at 7 p.m.
The Daktronics boards are positioned beyond each end zone. One is mounted on the façade of the Shewey Athletic Building on the north end, while the other is behind the student bleachers on the south.
Also, the stadium’s sound system has been revamped and new ribbon video displays have been installed.
The upgrades cost a total of about $3 million.
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Holliday has talked plenty about how dangerous the likes of Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin will be for WVU’s offense. The best way for Marshall to meet the challenge, he said, is to attack it head-on.
“You have got to have great pursuit,” he said. “All 11 players must be running to the ball relentlessly.
“Noel Devine at some point is going to make some plays. … He will break one here or there. He is a great player, and they have Jock Sanders who can beat you, and Tavon Austin, with Geno Smith making good decisions.
“They create a lot of problems for a defense, but what you have to do is get 11 guys lined up not thinking, but playing hard and running to the ball and then you have a chance.”
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In July, former Marshall receiver Troy Brown was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. That distinction will be recognized Friday when Brown is saluted on the field after the first quarter.
Brown helped the Herd to the 1992 Division I-AA national championship. He went on to a career with the New England Patriots and won three Super Bowls. The South Carolina native still resides in Huntington.
Former Marshall coach Jack Lengyel will attend the event. Lengyel, who coached the Young Thundering Herd after the 1970 plane crash, is a representative of the National Football Foundation.
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The Thundering Herd will honor the 29 miners who died in the April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine.
All season long, players will wear memorial stickers on their helmets. The stickers feature the dark outline of a coal miner with the No. 29 in white.
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Joe Tessitore will handle the play-by-play and Rod Gilmore color analysis for ESPN. The temperature at kickoff should be about 71 degrees with sunny skies.
