Doc Holliday, head coach at Marshall
Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Doc Holliday

Doc Holliday went 85–⁠54 as a head coach, 2010–⁠2020, at Marshall.

Record
85–⁠54 career
Seasons
11
Schools
1
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Born
Apr 21, 1957
Alma mater
West Virginia 1979
Best season
2014 13–⁠1, No. 23

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1724 in 2014
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2010Marshall5–⁠74th (East)
2011Marshall7–⁠62nd (East)Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg W
2012Marshall5–⁠73rd (East)
2013Marshall10–⁠41st (East)Military Bowl W
2014Marshall13–⁠11st (East)Boca Raton Bowl W23
2015Marshall10–⁠3T–2nd (East)St. Petersburg Bowl W
2016Marshall3–⁠9T–6th (East)
2017Marshall8–⁠5T–3rd (East)New Mexico Bowl W
2018Marshall9–⁠4T–2nd (East)Gasparilla Bowl W
2019Marshall8–⁠5T–2nd (East)Gasparilla Bowl L
2020Marshall7–⁠31st (East)Camellia Bowl L

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams101–⁠9
Against top-10 teams20–⁠2
Against rivals156–⁠9
Conference games8555–⁠30
Bowls and playoffs86–⁠2
Decided by 8 points or fewer4225–⁠17
At home6951–⁠18
On the road6229–⁠33
At neutral sites85–⁠3
As our Elo’s favorite8768–⁠19
As our Elo’s underdog5217–⁠35

His own 139 games on file, 2010–⁠2020, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Rick Stockstill 2013–⁠20204–⁠4Middle Tennessee8
Frank Solich 2010–⁠20193–⁠4Ohio7
Bobby Wilder 2014–⁠20195–⁠1Old Dominion6
David Bailiff 2011–⁠20143–⁠1Rice4
Brad Lambert 2015–⁠20183–⁠1Charlotte4
Ruffin McNeill 2010–⁠20132–⁠2East Carolina4
Ron Turner 2013–⁠20153–⁠0Florida International3
Todd Monken 2013–⁠20153–⁠0Southern Miss3
Charlie Partridge 2014–⁠20163–⁠0Florida Atlantic3
Chuck Martin 2014–⁠20183–⁠0Miami (OH)3

Doc Holliday’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Southern Missseries95–⁠4
Florida Atlanticseries87–⁠1
Florida Internationalseries86–⁠2
Middle Tennesseeseries84–⁠4
Western Kentuckyseries74–⁠3
Ohioseries73–⁠4
Old Dominionseries65–⁠1
UABseries64–⁠2

Career

YearsTeamJob
1979–⁠80West VirginiaGraduate assistant
1981–⁠82West VirginiaAssistant coach
1983–⁠89West VirginiaWide receivers coach
1990–⁠92West VirginiaLinebackers coach
1993–⁠94West VirginiaWide receivers coach
1995–⁠99West VirginiaAssistant head coach and wide receivers coach
2000–⁠04NC StateAssistant head coach and wide receivers coach
2005–⁠07FloridaAssistant head coach, safeties coach and recruiting coordinator
2008–⁠09West VirginiaAssistant head coach, tight ends and fullbacks coach and recruiting coordinator
2010–⁠20MarshallHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Doc Holliday

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (5)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Frank CignettiWest Virginia1979Graduate assistant
Don NehlenWest Virginia1980–⁠991980: graduate assistant; 1981–⁠82: assistant coach; 1983–⁠94: wide receivers coach; 1990–⁠92: linebackers coach; 1995–⁠99: assistant head coach and wide receivers coach
Chuck AmatoNC State2000–⁠04Assistant head coach and wide receivers coach
Urban MeyerFlorida2005–⁠07Assistant head coach, safeties coach and recruiting coordinator
Bill StewartWest Virginia2008–⁠09Assistant head coach, tight ends and fullbacks coach and recruiting coordinator
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Chris RipponMarshall, 2010–⁠12: defensive coordinator and linebackers coachWestern Connecticut
Gerad ParkerMarshall, 2011–⁠12: wide receivers coachPurdue, Troy
J.C. PriceMarshall, 2012: defensive line coach; 2013–⁠17: defensive tackles coach; 2018: co-defensive coordinator and defensive tackles coach; 2019–⁠20: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coachVirginia Tech
Adam FullerMarshall, 2013–⁠16: assistant head coach and linebackers coach; 2017: assistant head coach and special teams and linebackers coach; 2018: defensive coordinator and safeties coachAssumption
Brad LambertMarshall, 2019: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2020: defensive coordinator and safeties coachCharlotte
Other assistants under him (8)
CoachWith him
Bill LeggMarshall, 2010–⁠17: offensive coordinator
Ja’Juan SeiderMarshall, 2010–⁠12: running backs coach
Tony PetersenMarshall, 2010–⁠12: assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Chuck HeaterMarshall, 2013–⁠17: defensive coordinator and safeties coach
Thomas BrownMarshall, 2013: running backs coach
Cornell BrownMarshall, 2017–⁠20: defensive ends coach
Greg AdkinsMarshall, 2018–⁠20: assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator
Tim CramseyMarshall, 2018–⁠20: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Marshallhead coachbonuses up to $145,000; $25,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $2,707,208$762,570 USA Today
2016Marshallhead coachbonuses up to $145,000; $55,000 in bonuses paid$765,320 USA Today
2015Marshallhead coachbonuses up to $145,000; $95,000 in bonuses paid$758,250 USA Today
2014Marshallhead coachbonuses up to $115,000$609,820 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Holliday’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 32% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 51% of plays and took 23.4 seconds a play, 2010–⁠2020.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2010 12 g13 of 99 13%25%57%22.1−0.14
2011 12 g13 of 97 13%20%51%23.8−0.14
2012 12 g25 of 87 29%33%59%17.0+0.10
2013 14 g22 of 95 23%36%49%19.1+0.16
2014 13 g21 of 80 26%40%49%22.5+0.18
2015 13 g16 of 111 14%28%51%24.3−0.01
2016 10 g19 of 90 21%31%58%25.3−0.05
2017 13 g20 of 95 21%37%51%26.4−0.01
2018 13 g17 of 107 16%36%50%24.7−0.03
2019 13 g14 of 100 14%24%43%26.70.00
2020 10 g21 of 67 31%53%44%26.4+0.05
All 135 g201 of 1028 20%32%51%23.4+0.01

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.