Perhaps no one on the planet was happier for Doc Holliday when he finally got a head coaching job than was Steve Dunlap. And perhaps no one in Huntington on Friday night will feel any more awkward about now having to face him.
MORGANTOWN - Perhaps no one on the planet was happier for Doc Holliday when he finally got a head coaching job than was Steve Dunlap.
And perhaps no one in Huntington on Friday night will feel any more awkward about now having to face him.
"Strange,'' Dunlap said this week. "It's one of your best friends standing across the field looking at you. But that's the business we're in.''
For all of the potentially awkward moments in store when Holliday, Marshall's first-year head coach, is spied by his former WVU players and coaching buddies wearing MU green Friday night, the guy who is likely to be hit by it most is Dunlap.
Sure, few know Holliday's situation better than Dunlap. After all, he's been there, having been just as much a part of West Virginia's football program for two decades as was Holliday when Dunlap was hired there as the Herd's defensive coordinator three years ago. Now West Virginia's safeties coach, Dunlap knows how strange it can be.
Still.
"It's not really about me and Doc. It's about our players against their players,'' Dunlap said. "The players play the game. That's a sidebar, I guess.''
But indeed, there is a sidebar there. Holliday was the best man at Dunlap's wedding. They grew up within two miles of each other in Hurricane. They didn't really play together at West Virginia, but only because Dunlap's last year (1975) was Holliday's first, on the freshman team.
But from that season through 1999 - a quarter of a century - they were almost always together with the Mountaineers. Dunlap strayed for two seasons (1982-83) when he coached at Navy before returning to Morgantown. Holliday went straight from player to graduate assistant and then a full-time assistant
in Morgantown and stayed until he left a year before Don Nehlen did, in 1999.
For the next seven years - the Rich Rodriguez era at WVU - they bounced around, Holliday from North Carolina State to Florida and Dunlap from Syracuse to N.C. State and then Marshall. They missed one another in North Carolina by mere months.
"I came, he left,'' Dunlap said. "We couldn't get it right.''
And through it all, now through 35 years of playing and coaching, never once did Dunlap and Holliday find themselves on opposite sidelines in the same game.
Until this week.
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Dunlap vs. Doc an awkward proposition
MORGANTOWN - Perhaps no one on the planet was happier for Doc Holliday when he finally got a head coaching job than was Steve Dunlap.
And perhaps no one in Huntington on Friday night will feel any more awkward about now having to face him.
"Strange,'' Dunlap said this week. "It's one of your best friends standing across the field looking at you. But that's the business we're in.''
For all of the potentially awkward moments in store when Holliday, Marshall's first-year head coach, is spied by his former WVU players and coaching buddies wearing MU green Friday night, the guy who is likely to be hit by it most is Dunlap.
Sure, few know Holliday's situation better than Dunlap. After all, he's been there, having been just as much a part of West Virginia's football program for two decades as was Holliday when Dunlap was hired there as the Herd's defensive coordinator three years ago. Now West Virginia's safeties coach, Dunlap knows how strange it can be.
Still.
"It's not really about me and Doc. It's about our players against their players,'' Dunlap said. "The players play the game. That's a sidebar, I guess.''
But indeed, there is a sidebar there. Holliday was the best man at Dunlap's wedding. They grew up within two miles of each other in Hurricane. They didn't really play together at West Virginia, but only because Dunlap's last year (1975) was Holliday's first, on the freshman team.
But from that season through 1999 - a quarter of a century - they were almost always together with the Mountaineers. Dunlap strayed for two seasons (1982-83) when he coached at Navy before returning to Morgantown. Holliday went straight from player to graduate assistant and then a full-time assistant
in Morgantown and stayed until he left a year before Don Nehlen did, in 1999.
For the next seven years - the Rich Rodriguez era at WVU - they bounced around, Holliday from North Carolina State to Florida and Dunlap from Syracuse to N.C. State and then Marshall. They missed one another in North Carolina by mere months.
"I came, he left,'' Dunlap said. "We couldn't get it right.''
And through it all, now through 35 years of playing and coaching, never once did Dunlap and Holliday find themselves on opposite sidelines in the same game.
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MORGANTOWN - Perhaps no one on the planet was happier for Doc Holliday when he finally got a head coaching job than was Steve Dunlap.
And perhaps no one in Huntington on Friday night will feel any more awkward about now having to face him.
"Strange,'' Dunlap said this week. "It's one of your best friends standing across the field looking at you. But that's the business we're in.''
For all of the potentially awkward moments in store when Holliday, Marshall's first-year head coach, is spied by his former WVU players and coaching buddies wearing MU green Friday night, the guy who is likely to be hit by it most is Dunlap.
Sure, few know Holliday's situation better than Dunlap. After all, he's been there, having been just as much a part of West Virginia's football program for two decades as was Holliday when Dunlap was hired there as the Herd's defensive coordinator three years ago. Now West Virginia's safeties coach, Dunlap knows how strange it can be.
Still.
"It's not really about me and Doc. It's about our players against their players,'' Dunlap said. "The players play the game. That's a sidebar, I guess.''
But indeed, there is a sidebar there. Holliday was the best man at Dunlap's wedding. They grew up within two miles of each other in Hurricane. They didn't really play together at West Virginia, but only because Dunlap's last year (1975) was Holliday's first, on the freshman team.
But from that season through 1999 - a quarter of a century - they were almost always together with the Mountaineers. Dunlap strayed for two seasons (1982-83) when he coached at Navy before returning to Morgantown. Holliday went straight from player to graduate assistant and then a full-time assistant
in Morgantown and stayed until he left a year before Don Nehlen did, in 1999.
For the next seven years - the Rich Rodriguez era at WVU - they bounced around, Holliday from North Carolina State to Florida and Dunlap from Syracuse to N.C. State and then Marshall. They missed one another in North Carolina by mere months.
"I came, he left,'' Dunlap said. "We couldn't get it right.''
And through it all, now through 35 years of playing and coaching, never once did Dunlap and Holliday find themselves on opposite sidelines in the same game.
Until this week.
"Yeah, it is odd,'' Dunlap said. "We've always been on the same sideline. But the one thing I know about Doc is he wants to win, even if it's checkers.''
For the record, there's nothing but respect for Holliday at West Virginia, be it from coaches or current players, many of whom Holliday recruited. The list of those runs deep and includes two of the most pivotal players on WVU's offense and defense.
"I was happy for him. He finally got his shot,'' free safety Robert Sands said. "Every coach wants to be a head coach once or twice. Doc's been around the game for a long time and he finally got his opportunity. I'm glad that he seized the moment.''
Not that that will affect Sands' game.
"I'll see him after the game and talk to him a little bit,'' Sands said. "But when we're on the field, it's all about business.''
West Virginia can also thank Holliday in part for its starting quarterback, Geno Smith.
"All in all, I'm happy for Doc,'' Smith said. "It's every coach's dream, I guess, to be a head coach. There's no hard feelings toward him or any of those guys.''
Coaching-wise, of course, it's not just Holliday and Dunlap who share a bond. Holliday coached at West Virginia with every member of the current staff. That includes even the man who replaced him, Dave McMichael, who was at WVU with Holliday for 17 years in the 1980s and '90s.
And on the flip side, there are actually more West Virginia grads on Marshall's coaching staff (three, Holliday, Bill Legg and JaJuan Seider) than there are MU grads (two, Tony Petersen and Phil Ratliff).
So all in all, it might be awkward for a lot of people. But for Dunlap and Holliday, one has to think it will be especially strange.
"I never thought it would come to this,'' Dunlap said. "But on Friday night, he's not going to be any different than any other coach. I'll want to beat him.''
This article is available only to our premium digital content subscribers.
Dunlap vs. Doc an awkward proposition
MORGANTOWN - Perhaps no one on the planet was happier for Doc Holliday when he finally got a head coaching job than was Steve Dunlap.
And perhaps no one in Huntington on Friday night will feel any more awkward about now having to face him.
"Strange,'' Dunlap said this week. "It's one of your best friends standing across the field looking at you. But that's the business we're in.''
For all of the potentially awkward moments in store when Holliday, Marshall's first-year head coach, is spied by his former WVU players and coaching buddies wearing MU green Friday night, the guy who is likely to be hit by it most is Dunlap.
Sure, few know Holliday's situation better than Dunlap. After all, he's been there, having been just as much a part of West Virginia's football program for two decades as was Holliday when Dunlap was hired there as the Herd's defensive coordinator three years ago. Now West Virginia's safeties coach, Dunlap knows how strange it can be.
Still.
"It's not really about me and Doc. It's about our players against their players,'' Dunlap said. "The players play the game. That's a sidebar, I guess.''
But indeed, there is a sidebar there. Holliday was the best man at Dunlap's wedding. They grew up within two miles of each other in Hurricane. They didn't really play together at West Virginia, but only because Dunlap's last year (1975) was Holliday's first, on the freshman team.
But from that season through 1999 - a quarter of a century - they were almost always together with the Mountaineers. Dunlap strayed for two seasons (1982-83) when he coached at Navy before returning to Morgantown. Holliday went straight from player to graduate assistant and then a full-time assistant
in Morgantown and stayed until he left a year before Don Nehlen did, in 1999.
For the next seven years - the Rich Rodriguez era at WVU - they bounced around, Holliday from North Carolina State to Florida and Dunlap from Syracuse to N.C. State and then Marshall. They missed one another in North Carolina by mere months.
"I came, he left,'' Dunlap said. "We couldn't get it right.''
And through it all, now through 35 years of playing and coaching, never once did Dunlap and Holliday find themselves on opposite sidelines in the same game.
