By the time it's all over, Greg Marshall will have more tattoos on his butt than a down-market stripper. Figuratively speaking, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats coach had a pretty big Mustang on his derriere after playing and coaching with Western.
Then, it was off to McMaster in Hamilton, where four Yates Cups wound up turning him into one of the top coaches in Canadian university football. The experience couldn't help but place some imaginary Mac needlework on his tush.
Now it's the Ticats. Soon there won't be enough clear hide on the slimmed-down Marshall for many more.
Marshall heads into uncharted waters soon. As the first Canadian head coach in Canadian Football League history to go directly from the university ranks to the pros, he's taking a quantum step up. Hamilton opens the season Friday against the B.C. Lions in Vancouver and plenty of eyes will be on Marshall.
A lot of them are in London. Marshall was the beneficiary of Mustang traditions Thursday when he was one of the easiest choices to join 11 others in the first Mustangs Wall of Champions. From inductees such as former quarterback and Alberta premier Don Getty to former fullback and Buffalo Bill Tim Tindale, from all his coaches/opponents to anyone with a remote connection to the Mustangs, Marshall has an enormous rooting section.
The rookie pro coach, a compendium of all that he's done on field and off with Western and McMaster, will need all the support he can get. He takes over a team that hit the nadir of its existence last season, winning one of 18 games.
So, win twice and he's ahead of the game, right? Wrong. Under new ownership and aggressive marketing that gave the Ticats a larger exhibition game crowd a couple of weeks ago than the team attracted all last season, expectations have taken a turn toward the unrealistic.
Already, there are murmurs of the playoffs.
"Obviously, I want to make the playoffs and would be disappointed if we don't," Marshall said. "Once you get into the playoffs, a bounce or two and who knows? I know this: we'll be competitive."
The truth is, if the Ticats can win more than six games first crack after hitting bottom, new owner Bob Young should be doing handsprings.
But back to allegiances.
Marshall said it's as much about the people you came up with as the teams.
"More than anything, you remember the people you worked with, players like Mike Kirkley (tragically killed in a plane crash) and the people who had a tremendous influence on you, like Larry Haylor and Darwin Semotiuk. Both Larry and Darwin worked very hard. I guess nobody worked harder or was more intense than Larry."
When he went to McMaster, there was still part of him with Western, he admits.
"I remember some coaches (criticizing) Western coaches and players and said 'Hang on a sec, those are my guys.' It's more about people. I loved my time at Mac and the support I got. But if it hadn't been for people like Larry and Darwin, I might not have ever been there. It's more than just the university, the buildings and the jerseys."
One senses the mythical Mustang tattoo probably is a bit larger than the Mac one for an obvious reason. Marshall shed some blood for it.
The memories are vivid.
"The Yates Cup championship game in 1980 stands out," he recalled. "We beat Laurier pretty good (51-28). They had an outstanding season and had beaten us in the regular season. We went with a rookie quarterback, Andy Rossit. I had a pretty good day rushing (29 carries for a single-game record 273 yards and four touchdowns) and threw a touchdown pass -- that's always a highlight. There were a lot of big games.
"As a coach, the '89 Vanier finally got a monkey off our back (Western beat Saskatchewan 35-10 before a record 32,877 at the SkyDome). The '94 group the first year I was co-ordinating the offence. We were in a dogfight all the way. In the playoffs against Bishop's, they were whacking us in the first half and we came back. Then there was Saskatchewan (and a double-overtime Vanier Cup win to go 12-0 on the season)."
He's a long way from that now, as the monster rosters of university football are halved to the 40 players CFL teams are allowed to dress. His is a harsher world, one where business holds sway over most other concerns when the day ends.
University coaches depend on recruiting. Pro coaches do, too, but there's the added challenge of being at the behest of an owner's willingness to invest enough to acquire the players the coach seeks.
The Wall of Champions dinner came at a perfect time for Greg Marshall. Here he was, inducted with Mustangs luminaries including his brother, Blake, getting unconditional support from former coaching mates he'd beaten the past four years.
He wouldn't, he said, be a pro coach now had it not been for the Mustang experience. He'll be drawing on that, certainly, in the coming weeks.
FACTS ON THE TICATS
Last year's record: 1-17-0-0, last in East Division
Coach (first year): Greg Marshall
Key players in: QB Marcus Brady, OL Tim Bakker, DT Adriano Belli, CB Wayne Shaw, LBs Donnavan Carter and Mat Petz, SBs D.J. Flick and Mike Morreale
Key players out: LB Chris Shelling, WR Tony Akins, K-P Paul Osbaldiston
Biggest questions: Can QB Danny McManus and DE Joe Montford regain their championship forms? Who will attempt to replace future Hall of Famer Osbaldiston?
