Marshall fans deserve better

Screenshots of a series of tweets posted by the Marshall Athletic department's official twitter account.

When a potential game-tying field goal attempt sailed wide of the uprights to secure an upstart Charlotte 49ers football program a 27-24 win over the Marshall Thundering Herd, it should have been heartbreaking for Herd fans. 

However, it wasn't. That's because Marshall fans had already had their hearts and spirits broken by school officials earlier in the week when the athletic department's sanctioned twitter page tweeted out a series of quotes from Herd athletic director Mike Hamrick. The tweets accused the fans of not doing enough to support the team and the program while complaining about the bills the athletic department has to pay on a yearly basis. They were summarized from quotes Hamrick made during the weekly call in show, a show ironically powered by the fans who listen to it. 

While it is true that the Marshall athletic department has to deal with a fair amount of economic strife, chastising the very fan base you have and need is probably not the way to build more support. Furthermore, a college institution that pays six-figure salaries to high ranking officials like its athletic director and football coach complaining about bills in a state as economically deprived as West Virginia has zero chance of endearing itself to anyone. Not to mention, who was Hamrick talking to? Does he not understand the fans that care enough to listen to the call in show or follow the athletic program's twitter account are the fans that do in fact show up and support the program on a regular basis?

I didn't listen to the call in show, and perhaps on the show, the words tweeted come across in a different manner. If that's the case then I suggest the athletic department assign someone to overview each tweet before it's posted and make sure each one clears some kind of vetting process. Because this is a public-relations nightmare, especially in a season when West Virginia University is 6-0 and moving up the national rankings with each passing week. Treating fans so disparagingly is likely to make some of the less feverish supporters trade in their kelly green for blue and gold. 

Marshall fans are some of the most supportive in the country. Sure, it would be great to have a larger base, but we are a medium sized school, in a small, poor city in one of the worst conferences in college football. When you compare Marshall's attendance numbers to other peer schools its support is as good or better than any. Not to mention the 20,000 that are at the Joan each and every week are as loyal as any fan base you'll find in any sport and in any town. 

Those who make up the core, have been through a lot with the Marshall football program and yet never wavered. Some have been through the tragic plane crash and the decades that followed it. Many have been through the extreme run of success that led to the nation's best winning percentage in the 90s and carried over into the early 2000s and most were there when that run came to an end and we suffered another period of futility under coach Mark Snyder. Yet, they didn't cut and run. They kept showing up, they kept spending their hard earned money to support Marshall and no matter how bad this year gets, that core of 20,000 strong will be there again next year. That is, unless they are run off, by being unappreciated and looked down upon by those in charge. 

 Hamrick, from his own personal  account, should issue an apology to the fans. They deserve that much.