HUNTINGTON - Nearly five minutes into Marshall Coach DocHolliday's weekly press conference Monday, a resounding "Wooooooo!"interrupted the gathering in the Big Green Room of Edwards Stadium.
"Looks like we have a visitor," Holliday said while smiling.
Behind the media sauntered a 6-foot-4, 270-pound man wearing ablonde wig, sunglasses, white robe and pink feather boa.
"The prettiest wrestler you've ever seen," said the man in theRic Flair get-up. "Red-carpet walkin', No. 1 trash-talkin' ... Woo!The Nature Boy."
The man behind the Halloween costume was Vinny Curry, a Marshallsenior defensive end who is second nationally in sacks (101/2),second in tackles for a loss (18) and tied for first in forcedfumbles (six).
Halloween coinciding with an off week - and with the euphoria ofa 45-point win obviously lingering - set the stage for Curry's grandentrance.
The Thundering Herd's mindset after a 59-14 win over UAB onSaturday? Look no farther than Curry, one of the Herd's captainsand, apparently, a professional wrestling aficionado.
"They're really tight right now," Holliday said with a laugh."I'm happy for these guys.
"I think the one thing Vinny will you tell you is we've askedthese kids, from the day I walked on campus, we expect a lot out ofthem on and off the field. These kids have bought in, especiallythat guy right there.
"We've been hard on them. We get them up early in the morning andwe put them to bed late at night and expect them to live right anddo the right things. When you can finally see all that hard workstarting to work in get in place, that is the way you're supposed tobeat people. That's what's supposed to happen."
Holliday rewarded his players with Sunday and Monday off fromfootball-related obligations. Curry took advantage of the free time.
He assembled his costume by taking a hot glue gun and attachingthe feathers to a white bathrobe. On the back he used glue andglitter to spell out "Nature Boy" in silver and "Flee" in gold.
As for the rest of the press conference:
* Holliday and his assistants will hit the road recruiting today.He said the staff is placing an emphasis on the offensive line andhas five-to-eight scholarships to dole out in the coming months.
"Most of those are going to be targeted for offensive lineman,"Holliday said. "If there's a great player out there I'm not going toturn him down."
The Herd has verbal pledges from two offensive linemen in theClass of 2012: Tyler Combs (Louisa, Ky.; Lawrence County HighSchool) and Cameron Dees (Seffner, Fla.; Armwood High School).
Marshall's depth on the front line has been tested in recentweeks with injuries to left tackle Ryan Tillman, right tackle C.J.Wood, left guard Garrett Scott and right guard John Bruhin.
Scott and Bruhin had to be helped from the field in Saturday'swin over UAB and did not return. That gave ample playing time toreserves Alex Schooler and Corey Tenney.
"That offensive line is a group that you got to develop,"Holliday said. "That's not a quick fix. I can fix receiver prettyquick; I can fix the secondary pretty quick. But I can't fix thatoffensive line because you've got to develop those guys."
* The off week gives the players the opportunity to getphysically healthy, but the coaching staff has the chance toevaluate nine weeks of game film.
"There's no question you try to self scout," Holliday said. "Seewhat you are doing in certain situations, down-and-distancetendencies and that type of thing. Go back and look and see what youare.
"It gives you an idea of what Tulsa is seeing from us."
Marshall (4-5, 3-2 Conference USA) will travel to Tulsa (5-3, 4-0) on Nov. 12 for a noon kickoff. The Golden Hurricane plays thisThursday night at UCF.
Marshall is third in the C-USA East Division behind SouthernMississippi and East Carolina (3-1).
Southern Miss has four games remaining: at East Carolina, vs.UCF, at UAB and vs. Memphis. ECU hosts Southern Miss and UCF whiletraveling to UTEP before concluding the regular season in Huntingtonagainst Marshall on Nov. 26.
CHUCK McGILL/DAILY MAIL Marshall defensive end Vinny Currycelebrated Halloween by dressing up as professional wrestler RicFlair.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Marshall left tackle Ryan Tillman (73)blocks during the Herds game at Louisville earlier this season.Tillman is one of several Herd offensive linemen to suffer injuriesthis season.
Contact sportswriter Chuck McGill at chuck.mcgill@dailymail.comor 304-348-1712. His blog is at blogs.dailymail.com/marshall.
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