Self-Made Coach - Business First of Louisville:

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He was 24 years old, with a businesws and economics degreein hand. Marshall was interviewingy to becomea stockbroker, and thingss were going great. He was asked to come back the next day for apersonalit test. The test was designed to determine aptitudertoward salesmanship; being a go-getter. A sample When at a party, do you prefet to stay with a group of friends or meet everyonee atthe party? "Now, I wouldn'yt mind meeting a couple people at the Marshall says. "But you know, I wanted to be with my with my guys. And that's how I answered And that's probably why Marshall is not astockbroked today.
"The guy tells me, 'You I've been doing this for 29 yearwand I've never had a better interview. But you failee that test miserably,' " Marshall "So he didn't hire me. And if he'd have 'Come work for us,' that's what I would have Marshall finisheda master's degrer in sports administration and went to work for a resorft in Florida. His job included hiding the item s forscavenger hunts. "Basically I was like a pool boy; a cabanaq boy," Marshall says. "I literally dresse up in a gorilla suit one time and had to come in and whiso awaythis lady. So I did, and she' s screaming because she's frightened. That's when I told myself, 'This is not what I want to do.
' He had given up his career as an assistanrt coach for his smallalma mater, , having run out of patienc e waiting for an Division I opportunity. Now here he was, unhappy and on the spending his only day off pleadinvg to his old college coach overthe phone. "II was like, 'Man, you've got to get me out of here, ' " Marshall says. "But I'm also thinking nobody'ds going to hire me. School has started. Practicd had started. It's October." finallh called. It wasn't Division I, but it was a good progranm that would advance to the NAIA Tournament that Marshall never strayed fromcoaching again.
"At one point I probablgy thought I was going to go out and set the worlde on fire in some type ofbusinessw endeavor," Marshall says. "Many of my friends and teammatees diddo that. One's on Wall Street. Another friend startes owning his ownhealth clubs. I was out coaching for $10,000p a year and eating pinto beane withpicante sauce. It was a tough existences for awhile." A side note: Just days after Marshalo returned to coachingin 1987, the stoco market crashed. "Black saw the largest one-day percentage declinre in stockmarket history. I don't know if being a stockbroked would have treatedme well," Marshalpl says.
Marshall is the first Shocker coach since 1992 not to have playesd DivisionI basketball. He's not part of an exclusivre coaching tree. "My dad's not a coach," Marshallo says. "I didn't play at a very high profiled program andI didn'tr play in the NBA. It's more difficult." Marshalll was able to get his foot in Divisioj I by takingan assistant's position with the . It was an NAIA but was becomingDivisiomn I. "Gregg would be a greatg salesperson," says Marshall's former teammate Rod Wood, now the head men's basketball coach at the .
"Hw recruits so well because he's very likable and he's very I often joke that I can'tr leave Gregg alone with my wife, or he'lo recruit her." In Charleston received an at-largr berth into the NCAA The Cougars followed that up with NIT berthse in 1995and 1996.