Getting To Know Your Shockers 2: Head Coach Gregg Marshall

Hello,

Today on espn.com Rick Reilly wrote a big article about the Shockers, he's such a copycat :)

The Wichita State Shocker head coach is Gregg Marshall. He's coached at Wichita State for 6 seasons. He previously coached at Winthrop University. Marshall is a proud graduate of Randolph-Macon, he graduated in 1985. Marshall lead this season's Shockers to a 26-8 regular season, which earned them the #2 seed in the MVC tourney.  Wichita State reached the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. In the MVC finals they lost to defending Tournament champ Creighton 68-65. Malcolm Armstead scored 28 points and had 9 rebounds in that matchup.

WSU had earned enough respect from the NCAA Tournament Committee that they still received an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament. And as they say, the rest is history.

I'm sure Shockers fans are having a lot of mixed emotions right now. They are reveling in the run to the Final Four. While they are enjoying that, I'm sure they're also worried about how long Marshall will coach the Shockers. It appears that Coach Marshall will be back with the Shockers next season.

Steve Alford's Lobos went to the NCAA Tourney as a #3 seed and lost to Harvard in the first round. Still he signed a contract with UCLA and will be their coach for at least the next few years. Meanwhile FGCU's Andy Enfield rode an improbable run to the Sweet Sixteen to become the next head coach at USC. According to ESPN's Andy Katz, Enfield went from making $157,000 a year to well over a million dollars a year. (How would you like to get a raise like that?)

Good luck to Coach Enfield, because USC basketball has been a coaches graveyard. I can't remember the last time USC was relevant in basketball. It probably was when Harold Miner was still playing there.

Since I couldn't find out from an official source how much money Coach Gregg Marshall is making at WSU, I entered the murky world of the internet. It seems he's making about $1.4 million this year and roughly will be making about the same amount next year. Although after taking the Shockers to the Final Four, it seems he'd be due for at least a small bump in salary. This is the Shockers first Final Four appearance since 1965.

Tomorrow, we'll be meeting the key players.

themusicaddict