I don’t think Marshall is that difficult to read. Had we done our due diligence, a competent AD might have hired him when Lowe was hired; he should’ve at least been among the top of the plan B candidates. Second go around, he should’ve been choice #1. Pieced together from plenty of news reports where he’s directly quoted, and a little inside scoop, my take is that he didn’t come the second go around because we didn’t offer a long-term deal with enough incentives. I think it was probably comparable to what Gottfried was offered. Given his family’s happiness in Wichita, the really strong team he had coming back, it wasn’t an offer befitting his ability and success. I don’t think the Yow factor, at least personally, played in to it at all with him. Yes, Smart shouldn’t have been offered first, but had the right deal been presented, I think Marshall still would’ve been commanding our sideline. And I think it’s a completely inaccurate characterization of him to think he wants the spotlight, or needs to be the big man on campus. That’s about the furthest thing from the truth. He’s very humble and down to earth. He’s incredibly hardworking and doesn’t put up with a bunch of crap. It’s simply not all about the bucks. The guy has long arrived and shown he can win with less.
