By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Coaches and officials at Army-West Point and Marshall are happy and appreciative to be matched in the Dec. 28 Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.
But right now, they are focused on much bigger things.
Army is in game week for its annual classic contest against Navy, the 125th renewal of the rivalry on Saturday afternoon. CBS just renewed its TV rights contract through 2038.
“They’re written books about this game, thousands of pages,” said Black Knights’ 11th-year coach Jeff Monken, asked how he would explain the importance of Army-Navy to somebody who had no clue. “It’s a game like no other. It’s a sledgehammer fight for the entire duration.”
As for Marshall, Thundering Herd coaches and players are in a confusing situation despite winning the Sun Belt Conference championship and raising their record to 10-3 Saturday night with a 31-3 domination of UL Lafayette.
Head coach Charles Huff’s contract was allowed to expire. Sunday afternoon, he was hired as the new coach at Southern Mississippi, and assistant Telly Lockette was named interim head coach of the Thundering Herd, with North Carolina State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson named to take over the program following the I-Bowl and NC State’s Military Bowl on Dec. 26.
Lockette, speaking on a media teleconference Monday morning, was devoid of specifics about the current staff, roster or depth chart. He spoke of the staff essentially being “fired” and admitted he was unsure what the future held past Dec. 28, except that the coaches and players who remain in the program will bond together to represent themselves and the fan base well against Army.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead these young men into the bowl game,” Lockette said earlier in a Marshall press release. “It’s been a blessing over the last four years seeing this community rally behind this team and taking it to new heights as SBC Champions. Army is a great opponent, a great team and Coach Monken is a great coach. “We’re going to be fired up to play in the game. With the leadership we have, we want to finish this thing off strong for the kids and the community.”
In his weekly media session Monday afternoon, Monken was focused on Saturday’s showdown.
“This game is almost like a season of its own. It is such a source of pride for this Academy to beat Navy in anything we do – our swim and dive teams just had a historic victory over them this past week. You name it, when we compete against them in anything, we want to win and it makes us proud when we do.
“This game, more than any of them, is on a national stage at a completely different level. Millions of people, millions, will watch on TV. It’s a representation of our men and women that serve, and there are millions that have served in the United States Army and continue to serve, and we represent all of them. It’s a great sense of responsibility and an obligation to do that well, with honor and the fight that the Army’s proud of.
“We’ve won a lot of games this year. Winning THIS game would make this a great season. Even after 11 wins and a conference championship, this game means more than any of it.”
Monken did say the Black Knights, who have moved up to No. 18 in national rankings and are 11-1 with the only loss to Notre Dame, are pleased about the bowl invite, and personally, he’s aware the I-Bowl has tradition dating back to 1976.
“We have a lot of guys on our team from the state of Louisiana. Our guys are excited about it. The Independence Bowl is an historic game,” said Monken. “I watched that game as a kid and so it’s pretty neat to play in a game that’s got such a tremendous history.”
But for the time being, first things first.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com