The Marshall Plan not in effect in Hamilton

The first day I ever got to know Greg Marshall was back when the Guelph native sent me a recruitment letter of interest sometime in the winter of 1997, I had already decided McMaster University was the Canadian university I would be going to and that the Marauders would be the program in the sport of discipline I would be actively participating in at the inter-university football level, but the letter was so well set and succiently to the point that it made all of those years of watching the Maroon and Grey on CHCH in the snowy reception of Grandpa and Grandma Eriksen's house in Williamsford on Saturdays rather than the other Game of the Weeks like CKNX's Purple and Silver University of Western Ontario Mustangs or CKCO's Purple and Gold Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks much more clearly at home as a kid worth that extra mile.

The man who won the 1980 Hec Crighton Trophy single-handedly took a Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union losing-streaked football program from 1996's last place 0-8 to a middle of the pack 2-5-1 in 1997 then a 4-4 and its first playoff berth in 12 seasons losing the semi-final 34-32 to Western in London for 1998 then named Ontario University Athletic Association Coach of the Year after a 6-2 and another semi-final loss 42-27 to Laurier in Waterloo for 1999 and finally after 7-1 made it to the conference final winning 48-23 in Hamilton against Laurier yet lost the Churchill Bowl to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees also in Hamilton 20-15 in 2000 but still both the OUAA and CIAU Coach of the Year award for the effort.

This created the base for his dynasty which would see Mac go on to four consecutive Yates Cup victory wins in Y2K, 2001 (7-0-1, Churchill Bowl loss at University of Manitoba Bisons 27-6), 2002 (8-0, Churchill Bowl loss versus Saint Mary's University Huskies 36-25) and 2003 (8-0, Mitchell Bowl loss versus Université Laval Rouge et Or 36-32) equalling the standard set by their traditional rival University of Toronto Varsity Blues from 1908 to 1911 and subsequently matched by Queen's University Golden Gaels from 1922 to 1925 and the UWO Mustangs from 1978 to 1982, which Marshall himself was a player for the first three of those seasons which led to his 53-18-2 overall record and incredible 30-1-1 streak during his dynasty.

Just like Mac, Greg took over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and brought it from 2003's last place 1-17 to 9-8-1 in 2004, its first playoff berth in since 2001 losing the semi-final 24-6 to Toronto Argonauts at the SkyDome and then went on to win the Canadian Football League CoY award in his first season, but instability within the professional operation between the interim roles of Bob Young, Rob Katz, Christopher Dean, David Sauve and Ron Lancaster led to was been chaotic at best and didin't seem to allow some key aspects of the game to gel within the organization so finishing out 2005 5-13 and starting in 2006 0-4 seems quite academic internally as most would agree.

So where does it go for Marshall from now on, Mac just filled up its head coaching vacancy as has the current arch-rival Golden Hawks and home-town University of Guelph Gryphons but the rumour out there remains that Ottawa's CFL franchise next year will snatch him up or that his alma mater UWO will bring him in as a co-head coach with the current winningest football coach in Canadian university history Larry Haylor who hasn't won a national title since 1994 which Greg actually helped assist in then wait a year or three until Haylor can move up and replace Mike Lysko as the athletic director and bring them back to where they have been, but looking back fondly at his quality actions in the past with Mac and how professional the coaching staff there was during his era such as Recruitment and Special Teams Coordinator Ted Goveia I believe perhaps he will be able to recreate that magic with another program or maybe there is still hope to bring that spirit back to Mac and make it happen all over again.