by: Justin Walker
This past Saturday night, country music star Riley Green made a stop in Huntington, WV at the Marshall Health Network Arena as part of his “Damn Country Music Tour.” It was no surprise that Marshall head coach, Tony Gibson, was in attendance at the show.
WVU football coach, Rich Rodriguez, was also in attendance. As a matter of fact, in a TikTok video shared by a concert goer, the two appeared to be hanging out together at the show.
Playing to the local crowd, Green changed the lyrics of his song, Hell of a Way to Go from “Watchin’ Alabama whoop up on Tennessee” to “watchin’ West Virginia beat the s*** out of Tennessee.” Based on the video above, the change got a reaction from Rodriguez. Coach Gibson also seemed to chuckle at the lyric change.
Since Gibson and Rodriguez coach at schools who some consider rivals, some may see it as a surprise that the two were together in public. After all, each coach has taken some verbal jabs at the other institution during interviews or press conferences.
However, it should not be that big of a surprise. There’s a long history between the two West Virginia natives. Gibson played for Rodriguez at Glenville State from 1991-1994. He then became the Defensive Backs coach at his Alma Mater under Rodriguez in 1996. Gibson also worked for Rodriguez as a position coach during Coach Rod’s first run in Morgantown from 2001-2007. He then followed him to Michigan and coached under him for one year at Arizona (2012).
Gibson ultimately came back to join the Mountaineers’ staff under Dana Holgorsen in 2013, where he ended up becoming the Defensive Coordinator. He served in that role from 2014-2018 before landing the same role at NC State. He was named the head coach at Marshall in December after Charles Huff departed for Southern Miss. It’s Gibson’s first head coaching role.
So, it appears the friendship between these two coaches has not suffered because they work at opposing schools. One has to wonder, though, if there were any discussions between the two about renewing the Friends of Coal Bowl anytime in the future.
