If you were to draw a college football comparison to Gregg Marshall, it'd be Gary Patterson.
Just as Patterson's success elevated TCU from Conference USA to the Mountain West and then the Big 12, the only reason Wichita State University -- a commuter school in middle-of-nowhere Kansas -- is in the American Athletic Conference and counting schools such as Temple, Tulane and SMU as peers is because of the undeniable success of Marshall's basketball program. Marshall's Shockers won 30 games per year from 2013-17, peaking with a 2013 Final Four run and an undefeated regular season in 2014.
Combined with seven Big South titles in his 9-year run at Winthrop, Marshall won 525 games at a .720 clip while reaching the NCAA Tournament 14 times. That number would've grown to 15 had the pandemic not killed the 2020 Big Dance.
That's a Hall of Fame résumé, and today Marshall is out of a job.
On Tuesday, Wichita State announced it accepted Marshall's resignation following a hailstorm of personal conduct allegations against its coach. CBS summarized them here:
The allegations bubbled up privately months ago, and prompted an investigation, in advance of reports from Stadium and The Athletic that published Oct. 9. Both stories, citing multiple witnesses, claim Marshall physically assaulted former Shocker Shaq Morris during the 2015-16 season. Morris spoke on the record to Stadium and described the altercation as a punch delivered by Marshall during a team practice, an account further backed by multiple unnamed players to the Wichita Eagle.
Stadium also earlier reported that former Wichita State assistant Kyle Lindsted was choked by Marshall during the 2016-17 season; Lindsted has not commented on the allegations. The Eagle also confirmed that allegation through unnamed sources. A long list of other alleged misdeeds were depicted in reports from Stadium and The Athletic, including Marshall telling a player of Native American descent to "get back on his horse" in addition to making "Indian howling noises" during the 2018-19 season. In another encounter, Marshall threatened physical violence against a Wichita State student-athlete after the two had a verbal spat following the student-athlete using Marshall's parking space.
While not exactly germane to the Wichita State situation, The Athleticalso found multiple allegations of bullying and mistreatment among Marshall's former players at Winthrop.
Wichita State launched an internal investigation on Oct. 9, the day the Stadium and The Athletic stories dropped, that culminated in Marshall's resignation today. (Marshall has denied any and all allegations against him; the school will pay him $7.75 million to go away.)
“Our student-athletes are our primary concern,” said WSU AD Darron Boatright. “While the university acknowledges the success of the basketball program under Coach Marshall, this decision is in the best interest of the university, its student athletes and the WSU community. WSU will continue its pursuit of excellence with the help of its student-athletes, staff and loyal supporters of the basketball program.”
Marshall's story is yet another sad, frustrating, tragic, sadly necessary reminder that you can't (allegedly) punch a player or choke an assistant and keep your job, no matter how many games you win.