|
 Gregg
Marshall's first seven years as a college head coach
have been one of great team success and personal
recognition.
He has led the Winthrop Eagles to five NCAA
tournament appearances during his seven seasons,
four consecutive trips during his first four years
at the helm. His 2004-05 team established new Big
South Conference and school records for victories as
the Eagles soared to a 27-6 record and finished the
season ranked No. 9 among the nation's Div. I
mid-major programs.
Marshall has been voted the Big South Coach of the
Year three times in 1999, 2003 and 2005.
Under Marshall's leadership, Winthrop has had four
20-win seasons and have averaged over 20 victories
per year. His career record now stands at a very
impressive 142-70.
He struck gold in his first year as the head coach
at Winthrop as he led the Eagles to their first-ever
Big South Conference regular season championship,
the conference tournament title and the school’s
first trip to the NCAA tournament. He led the Eagles
to another Big South tournament title in 2000 and a
second trip to the Big Dance, and then made it a
three-peat in 2001 as Winthrop won the conference
title in exciting fashion and advanced to the
first-ever opening round game in NCAA tournament
history. His 2001-02 team overcame a series of
injuries to win a fourth straight conference title
and earned the right to face top-ranked Duke in the
NCAA tournament.
In his first year as a head coach on any level,
Winthrop compiled a 21-8 overall record including a
9-1 Big South Conference slate. Winthrop’s
improvement of 14 victories over the 1997-98 year
was one of the biggest turnarounds for NCAA Division
I programs. Marshall also directed the Eagles to a
school-record 12-game winning streak during January
and February. He did this despite having his team
picked to finish last in the conference in nearly
every poll and national publication. He was rewarded
by being voted the 1999 Big South Coach of the Year.
In 1999-2000 the Eagles won it all again as they
finished second in the regular season and then
captured the Big South tournament to earn the
automatic bid to the NCAA tourney. Winthrop received
a No. 14 seed, the highest ever by a Big South
Conference member, as the Eagles faced Oklahoma in
the West Region at Tucson, AZ. Sports Illustrated 's
NCAA preview even picked the Eagles to defeat the
Sooners, but that didn't happen. Winthrop finished
the year with a 21-9 record to give Marshall a 42-17
head coaching mark after two years.
His third year was probably his best in terms of
coaching skills as Winthrop was hit hard by the
injury bug, but still managed to compile a 18-13
record and its third straight Big South title and
trip to the Big Dance.
Gregg Marshall Achievements In Seven Years At
Winthrop
* Led Winthrop To First Big South Conference Regular
Season Championship In 1999
* Led Winthrop To First NCAA Tournament Appearance
In 1999
* Led Winthrop To First back-to-back Big South
Conference Tournament Titles In School History in
1999 and 2000.
* Led Winthrop To First Back-To-Back NCAA
Appearances In Big South Conference History in 1999
And 2000
* Led Winthrop To First Back-To-Back 20-Win Seasons
Since School Became A NCAA Div. I Member In 1987
* Led Winthrop To A No. 14 Seed In The 2000 And 2005
NCAA Tournaments, The Highest-ever For A Big South
Conference School.
* Captured First Big South Conference Coach Of The
Year Honor In 1999.
* Led Winthrop To First 3-Peat in Big South
Conference History with a third championship In
2001.
* Led Winthrop To A 4th Straight Big South Title In
2002.
* Led Winthrop To A 3rd 20-win Season And The
Regular Season Big South Conference Championship In
2003.
* Was voted Big South Conference Coach of the Year
in 1999, 2003 And 2005.
* Led Winthrop To A 4th 20-win Season And The
Regular Season Big South Conference Championship In
2005.
* Led Winthrop To A School And Big South Conference
Record For Wins In A Season With 27 In 2004-05.
His appointment as the Eagles’ head coach in April
of 1998 brought the South Carolina native full
circle. After being born in Greenwood, SC, Marshall
spent the first 3½ years of his life on College
Avenue which is located adjacent to the Winthrop
campus and just a few blocks from his office in
Winthrop’s 6,100-seat coliseum.
During the two years leading up to his arrival at
Winthrop, Marshall served as an assistant coach at
Marshall University where he helped guide the
Thundering Herd to the 1997 Southern Conference
championship and before that was an assistant on
John Kresse’s staff at the College of Charleston for
eight years from 1988-1996 when the Cougars made the
most successful transition ever from NAIA to NCAA
Division I. During Marshall’s years there, the
Cougars received an at-large bid to the NCAA
tournament in 1994 and consecutive NIT invitations
in 1995 and 1996.
While at Marshall, he recruited 1998 Mid-American
Conference Freshman of the Year Travis Young along
with MAC All-Freshman team member Joda Burgess. The
1997 recruiting class at Marshall was ranked by ESPN
as the best in the MAC and among the Top 40 in the
nation. During his tenure at the College of
Charleston, Marshall was instrumental in the
recruitment of NBA-caliber student-athletes from the
state of South Carolina that include Anthony
Johnson, a current member of the Indiana Pacers,
Marion Busby and Thaddeous Delaney. All three
players were voted Trans-America Athletic Conference
Players of the Year.
Prior to joining Kresse’s staff in Charleston,
Marshall spent one year as an assistant at Belmont
Abbey College (1987-88), and two years as an
assistant at his alma mater at Randolph-Macon
College in Ashland, VA, (1985-1987). In 13 years as
an assistant coach, the schools that Marshall was
associated with compiled a record of 268-129 for a
success rate of 68 percent.
Marshall received a B.A. degree in
economics/business in 1985 from Randolph-Macon and
earned the Master’s degree in Sport Management from
the University of Richmond in 1987. He is married to
the former Lynn Munday of Bellingham, Washington,
who earned her master’s degree from the College of
Charleston. They are the parents of a son, Kellen,
age 8, and a daughter, Maggie, 5. |
