Tag: Huntington

Herd to Battle for East Division Title

Marshall Football will finish the regular season Friday at noon against East Carolina University.

With the winner of the game winning the East Division and a spot in the following weekend’s Conference USA Championship game, Friday’s noon kick-off is quite possibly the biggest game at Joan C. Edwards Stadium has seen in more than a decade. In 2002, Huntington played host to the Mid-American Conference Championship that Marshall won. Both the East Carolina Pirates and the Thundering Herd enter the contest with 6-1 conference records. Marshall Head Coach Doc Holliday said this is what everyone has been looking forward to. 

"I came here and took this job for the opportunity to play for championships," Holliday said.

“I came here and took this job for the opportunity to play for championships and that’s what this fan base wants and that’s what you all want, that’s what the town, the city and the school, that’s what everybody wants and here we are,” Holliday said.

ECU’s overall record, however, is a game better than the Herd’s at 9-2 compared to 8-3. Holliday said they are good football team.

Both teams rank near the top of the conference in most offensive categories. Marshall ranks number one in total offense with ECU at number two and ECU ranks first in passing with Marshall just a step behind at second in the conference, but Holliday said it’s not just the offense that makes ECU a worthy competitor.

“They’re a very talented team that we have to make sure we do a good job preparing for,” Holliday said.

“If you look at their defense they’re very athletic, kind of similar to us if you look at them, they’ve made great improvements with their defense and they’re very athletic.”

The winner of the Friday afternoon matchup will take on one of three teams from the West Division, Rice, Tulane or the University of Texas San Antonio depending on the outcomes of games this weekend.

Senior Cornerback Monterius Lovett will be honored before Friday’s kick-off on Senior-day along with many of his graduating teammates. He said he understands what this game means for team, university and community.

“It’s going to mean a whole lot, they deserve it, it’s been I think 11 years since we have won a championship and we’ve never won a championship in Conference USA so yeah it’s going to be a great feeling and I know our fans are going to have our back,” Lovett said.

Senior Defensive End Alex Bazzie said the predicted cold temperatures or large crowd won’t affect ECU, so the Herd has to be ready.

“You just have to find a way to slow them down and find a way where they have to start going to different plays and not the plays they want to run, you’ve got to find a way to take them off track,” Bazzie said.

The site of the 2013 Conference USA Championship game goes to the school with the best conference record. In the event of a tie the higher team in the Bowl Championship Series Rankings will host the matchup. A Herd win could possibly bring that championship game back to Huntington and Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Huntington Prep and Head Coach Rob Fulford tip-off 5th season

High school basketball powerhouse Huntington Prep tipped-off its fifth season last night in Huntington.Rob Fulford grew up in Mullens, West Virginia. A…

   

 High school basketball powerhouse Huntington Prep tipped-off its fifth season last night in Huntington.

Rob Fulford grew up in Mullens, West Virginia. A town known for its basketball prowess to those involved with the sport around the state. Its home to the D’Antoni family and former Marshall great and current Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Mike D’Antoni and others like Jerome Anderson who had a short stint in the NBA.

“Just coming from Mullens, it’s just different, we’re extremely competitive in everything we do, we can go on and on about just how competitive that town is and the county really, but Mullens more so than the county,” Fulford said.

Fulford is the Head Coach for Huntington St. Joseph’s Prep. It’s a prep basketball team that Fulford established at the private catholic school located in downtown Huntington. In just the 5th season the team is recognized on a national scale and spent much of last season ranked first in the nation. The team only plays a national schedule and doesn’t compete with in-state schools. Fulford said the success is something he never expected when he decided pharmaceutical sales wasn’t for him and coaching basketball was.

"It's the competitive nature of it all, I always wanted to coach," Fulford said.

  “It’s the competitive nature of it all, I always wanted to coach, I was in pharmaceutical sales and made a ton of money and I just hated the job. So got out of that and started coaching and I don’t make any money, but I love it and I think it’s just my up-bringing,” Fulford said.

Fulford started at Mountain State Academy in Beckley where he established a prep school. There he was able to recruit basketball talent from around the country and world to southern West Virginia. After 4 years there and dwindling opportunities, he decided things had to change. The next step was to move things to Huntington. In a new city, things have blossomed for Fulford and Huntington Prep where stars like last years number 1 overall recruit Andrew Wiggins have shined.

Fulford said the biggest challenge in establishing the program hasn’t been the national recognition, getting recruits or getting his kids into reputable college programs, but it’s the community’s lack of interest or confusion about what the program is about.

“I think it’s gradually going away because they understand the type of kids that we’re getting, they’re good kids, high character kids, they’re great academic kids and I think it’s taken some time for people to grasp what the program is. I think our involvement with St. Joe has helped the community support,” Fulford said.

Fulford thinks things may begin to change this season as they’ll play more home games in the Huntington area. Over the first four seasons they’ve played homes games at a variety of gyms in the area that allowed for bigger crowds than St. Joseph’s gym would allow. This year he says they’ll play some games in the small St. Joe gym and others at the Civic Arena downtown after establishing an agreement with Huntington Mayor Steve Williams. Fulford is excited to see if his team can live up to expectations they’ve set for themselves over the past four seasons.

“The expectations are obviously high, but I think people in the community and really ourselves are anxious to see what this team will do and how they respond because they’ve heard it. That’s all they’ve heard since they’ve arrived in Huntington, is how do you compare to last year’s team,” Fulford said.

He said the ultimate goal is to be the best team in the country.

“We had a really good team last year and we were preseason number one in a few polls and I think we’ll be preseason 1-5 this year in some polls and that’s our ultimate goal is to win a national championship and to continue to bring in high character kids that make the state proud,” Fulford said.

Wednesday night Huntington Prep took care of Bluefield College’s Junior Varsity team, 99 to 52.

Couples file lawsuit in federal court in Huntington for same-sex marriage rights

The fight for same-sex marriage has come to West Virginia with a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Huntington. Currently the state defines…

The fight for same-sex marriage has come to West Virginia with a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Huntington. Currently the state defines marriage as between a man and a woman.  

Three same-sex couples filed suit yesterday morning in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. The lawsuit seeks the freedom to marry for three couples all from the surrounding Huntington area. One of those couples is Justin Murdock and William Glavaris. Murdock said they are glad to see things start to happen.

“We feel hopeful and obviously this is a big step and I am happy that this step has come to West Virginia and I think it’s about time. With the legal challenges I’ll be the first one to tell you that I don’t understand all of them, but I trust our lawyers and I know they’ve come here for a reason and their confidence makes me confident,” Murdock said.

The three couples are represented by Lambda Legal, a national organization seeking equality and pro bono by co-counsels from the Tinney Law Firm and Jenner and Block. Their reasoning is simple they said, to get the same rights afforded to marriages that include a man and a woman in the state.

Casey Willits is the Executive Director of Fairness West Virginia and says it’s a big day in the state.

“The effort to win freedom to marry has really come home to the Mountain State, it is now an issue in federal court here in West Virginia and that provides the way forward for LGBT West Virginian’s, particularly for same-sex couples who want to get married to protect their family and protect their relationship, but it really brings home the effort right here to the Mountain State,” Willits said.

Willits said he sees no better time than right now to file this type of suit in the state.

“I think the state is ready to acknowledge that in the federal constitution that there are these equal liberties and these protections. I think they’re ready to hear that truly it is only fair to provide the freedom to marry to all West Virginia couples,” Willits said.

Beth Littrell is an attorney for Lambda Legal in its Southern Regional Office. She said they have fought successful cases in Iowa and California, but have also had cases that didn’t go their direction. She says they are confident that the environment is right for their case to be successful in West Virginia.

“We think that West Virginia is a place in which the values of fairness and liberty and especially freedom will ring in the courtrooms and we feel confident. We would not have brought this case if we didn’t think it was likely that we would win,” Littrell said.

The other two couples named in the lawsuit are Nancy Michael and Jane Fenton along with their six-year old son Drew and Casie McGee and Sarah Adkins.

Littrell said same-sex couples in the state deserve certain rights they do not currently receive. West Virginia law does not recognize same sex marriage.  Additionally, the state legislature has never passed an anti-discrimination bill to protect gays and lesbians in the workplace and housing.

“This is a federal constitutional challenge and the United States Constitution guarantees certain protections and promises and West Virginians deserve those protections and promises, so we think the state in this lawsuit will be successful,” Littrell said.

Casie McGee said it as simple as wanting to be able to help those that have become family to them.

  “As family you want to take care of each other and we just keep running into these road blocks,” McGee said. 

How tough is it to start your own business in WV?

  The West Virginia Small Business Development Center showed a crowd of entrepreneurs and business owners how technology can help tackle small business needs.

In the third of five planned workshops throughout the state, the West Virginia Small Business Development Center walked entrepreneurs through the process of beginning their own business. This workshop focused on the necessity of technology to make it in today’s market. Justin Gaull is the Technology Commercialization manager for the Center.

“An SBDC business coach works to serve as a connector so we help the entrepreneurs in West Virginia find resources that they can use to move the businesses or their ideas forward. We also serve as a coach and help them through the leadership and strategy issues of their business and also on a personal level is business right for me,” Gaull said.

Gaull said begin the tackling the tasks of starting a business. Last week’s session focused on everything from the early stages of development justification for innovation, how to analyze the market for the product and how to get to the level they want to attain. Gaull said the process can look like a mountain to climb at the beginning.

"It sometimes appears daunting to try to get in and try to commercialize some new product or technology and what we try to do is walk them through that visionary process that is sometimes negated in the very beginning," Gaull said.

“It sometimes appears daunting to try to get in and try to commercialize some new product or technology and what we try to do is walk them through that visionary process that is sometimes negated in the very beginning. Someone has a great idea and they bring that prototype into the office and they’re ready to move forward from that point and sometimes that’s not the best thing and sometimes that’s not the best move, sometimes they need to back up and ask those key questions,” Gaull said.

Pryce Haynes of Huntington attended the conference with the idea of using college logos on different kinds of merchandise. He said it definitely seems like a larger undertaking.

“I think right now we’re opening a can of worms if you will, you look at the business model and maybe there are five steps or however many steps there are to it, well each step contains 30 more steps, so on and so forth. So there are a lot of angles and things to consider along each step of the way,” Haynes said.

Tom Minnich is the Director of Special Projects and Business Development with the Robert C. Byrd Institute in Huntington. RCBI is a non-profit training service that provides small businesses access to what they need to continue developing their business. The institute serves as co-sponsor of the workshops. He says the workshops are essential because many people that come to them with ideas aren’t prepared.

“There is people out there that did not do their homework and did not do their searches, they have an idea, but the sister product is already out there on the street and then some people come in with a real realistic idea, but they don’t know how to get to the next level with it, it’s still in their head and not reality,” Minnich said.

Previous workshops were held in Bridgeport and Charleston and the next two will be held in the eastern panhandle and once again in Bridgeport.

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