‘There are no winners’: AD talks Marshall resignation, WSU basketball coach search
In his first interview since accepting Gregg Marshall’s resignation as Wichita State men’s basketball coach Tuesday morning, WSU athletic director Darron Boatright told The Wichita Eagle “there are no winners from this.”
Marshall had made the Shockers a nationally relevant program again by taking them to the 2013 Final Four and to seven straight NCAA Tournaments, winning more games than any other coach in program history.
But he also faced allegations of physical and verbal abuse from former players, which led WSU to hire a firm to launch an investigation that lasted nearly three months. WSU has not released what that investigation turned up, but reached a settlement of $7.75 million — just over half of the $15 million buyout in Marshall’s contract — that will pay Marshall a little more than $48,000 every two weeks for the next six years starting on Dec. 11.
“The process was very tough,” Boatright told The Eagle. “It’s something that you would never want to be a part of. I hate it for all parties involved. There are no winners in this.”
Boatright said he could not discuss specifics regarding the investigation and what, if any, evidence was found against Marshall that led to his decision to resign.
He did speak about his decision to promote Marshall’s most-experienced assistant, Isaac Brown, to interim head coach.
“As Isaac has become the senior assistant on the staff, I’ve seen him mature and blossom and I’ve been impressed with his work the last few years,” Boatright said. “He’s had some pretty big personalities on the staff with him at different times and he’s always just done his work and didn’t draw much attention to himself. But in recent seasons, I’ve noticed he’s taken on more responsibilities and a lot more things were being entrusted to him. It was a decision I did not hesitate to make.”
Brown, who has been at WSU since 2014, was the only current assistant who was on Marshall’s staff from 2015-17, when the two alleged incidents of physical abuse occurred. According to Stadium’s reporting, which several former WSU players independently confirmed to The Eagle, Marshall punched Shaquille Morris in the neck area at an October 2015 practice and put his hands around the throat of assistant Kyle Lindsted in anger during a practice in the 2016-17 season.
Some fans have wondered about Brown’s ties to those alleged events because the public perception is that Marshall had to resign because of them.
“That’s a natural question and it’s something that I thought of and discussed with some of my peers here at the university,” Boatright said. “I wanted to make sure we’re all comfortable with that and ultimately we decided that (promoting Brown) was the best path moving forward for the program right now and especially for our athletes.”
Boatright said that he will soon meet with Brown to discuss a new contract because he is taking on more responsibilities as interim head coach. Brown was paid $210,000 as an assistant coach for the 2019-20 season. He also mentioned that Brown will have full control in hiring a third assistant coach.
As for the search for a permanent head coach, Boatright said he’s always had a list of coaches who he’s kept an eye on throughout the years.
“When you’ve had a coach as successful as Gregg was here, the option of him getting another opportunity was always there,” Boatright said. “So that’s just something that you’re always evaluating other programs and seeing their success and who’s leading them. That process never really stops for an athletic director. The only difference now is this time there will be a formal process instead of it being only a fact-gathering exercise.”
The Marshall coaching tree has produced no shortage of worthy outside candidates for the job, like Chris Jans (New Mexico State), Earl Grant (College of Charleston), Kyle Lindsted (assistant at Minnesota) and Greg Heiar (assistant at East Tennessee State). Boatright confirmed that Brown will be given every consideration to be kept on as the full-time head coach, as well.
But would WSU want to pick a coach with ties to Marshall after his resignation?
“You have to evaluate the person, as well as evaluate how you think they would fit into the position at this time in our program,” Boatright said. “It’s just something that you have to take a look at and see what you’re comfortable with and what direction you want to take it in and evaluate all options in front of you.”
Boatright did not specify on the timeline for when he wants to finish the coaching search, but it is believed WSU will wait until after this season to name a full-time head coach.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 10:44 AM.
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