By Mike Donovan

As part of SIOC's ongoing series of mid-major profiles, we travel to West Virginia to check out Thundering Herd of Marshall.

The Skinny

	Before he was terrorizing NFL defenses, Randy Moss was a stud receiver at Marshall. AP
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Founded as a subscription school (similar to a boarding school) in 1837 when the area was still located in the state of Virginia, this Huntington, W.Va. school is home to 14,000 students. The team is nicknamed the Thundering Herd and has been competing at the Division 1-A level in football since 1997.

The best men's team

Football. In what was a down year for Marshall athletics, the football team earns this honor for its overall production over the last 15 years. Division-1AA national champs in 1992 and 1996, Marshall made a stunning transition to the big time in 1997. Led by record-setting receiver Randy Moss, the Herd won 10 games, the most ever for a first-year top flight team. With 114 wins in 1990s, Marshall set a record for most wins in a decade for a D-1 team.

The best women's team

Softball. Second team All-American Rachel Folden led the Thundering Herd within a game of the NCAA tournament in each of the last two years. Folden had an impressive 2006 season with conference records in home runs (18) and RBI (54). The team is also impressive in the classroom with the 13th highest cumulative GPA in D-1 softball.

Something you might not know

While the tragic story of the 1970 plane crash that killed nearly all of Marshall's football players, coaches, and managers has been immortalized by this year's movie, We Are Marshall, it is safe to say that the crash has affected every football game since that day. No school is more defined with such a tragedy. When Marshall defeated Xavier on the final play of the first home game since the crash, it was arguably the most important game in the history of the state of West Virginia.

Trivia Time No. 1

Marshall is the only Division-1 school named after a Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Marshall.

Trivia Time No. 2

The Thundering Herd nickname first appeared as an unofficial name in 1925 after the success of the movie of the same name.

How to piss off a member of the Herd

Approach a student and exclaim, "We are Marshall." This is not a conversation starter and the phrase should not be overused by visitors.

20 words or less

Men's basketball team: Finished dead last at Great Alaska Shootout with losses to Robert Morris, Cal, Missouri-Kansas City and Hofstra. Ouch!

Women's basketball team: Led by Modupe Ishola (60% from the field), Marshall women should end up in the NIT.

Football team: Finished below .500, but not because of defensive end Albert McClellan, who was named conference player of the year.

Best athlete: Junior volleyball player Kelly-Anne Billingy won conference player of the year and led the NCAA in kills per game.

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