Topic: Gazette: Herd assistant tackles new job with glee / Other Tidbits

[ZackUSAF82]

By Doug Smock

For one of the widest smiles on the Marshall football coaching staff this spring, look immediately to Fred Tate.

And it's not just because he was handed the assignment of coaching defensive end Vinny Curry. That is a plus, yes, but Tate would have been just as excited if he inherited nothing more than a dozen walk-ons.

It's simple: Tate is back on the defensive line after a year of tutoring safeties. His fellow Thundering Herd coaches know he's happier.

"I don't think the door was even cracked open when we said, 'Do you want to go to defensive line?' I couldn't even finish the sentence; he was gone," said Chris Rippon, MU's defensive coordinator. "He was in the defensive line room getting it all ready and put up."

"It doesn't take long to watch him with working with that defensive front and know that's where he likes to be, and he's home there," said MU coach Doc Holliday. "He looks like a D-lineman - hell, he looks better than the damn players."

Link: http://wvgazette.com/Sports/Marshall/201104021087