Marshall, 2002-2009
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While Bob Marcum’s career in college athletics began in 1971 and spanned multiple decades, the final stop was at home.
Serving as Marshall’s athletic director from 2002-09, Marcum most notably helped lead the Herd’s move to Conference USA in 2005.
He played football briefly at Marshall and was a Huntington native. His first-ever position in athletics was as an assistant high school football coach under all-time great Don Nehlen.
Marcum died on Tuesday at the age of 87.
Marshall University released a statement lauding Marcum’s commitment to his hometown community.
“Bob Marcum served his alma mater as AD with true dedication, an indomitable spirit and a love of all things green and white. Under his leadership, Marshall Athletics saw significant bricks and mortar growth including renovations of the Shewey Building, football weight room, new locker rooms for men’s and women’s basketball and a new softball complex,” Marshall University said in a statement. “We are grateful for his vision and leadership that served our university and student athletes so well. We send our sympathy to his family and friends.”
His path to Marshall made stops at Kansas, South Carolina and UMass, all of which he spent time as an athletic director.
Marcum’s college athletics career began at Iowa State, where he was an associate athletic director from 1971-78. His first athletic director job was at Kansas in 1978.
At Kansas, Marcum re-hired coach Don Fambrough in 1979. He went on to win Big Eight coach of the year honors alongside a 1981 bowl victory. The school won 15 Big Eight Conference championships between six sports in his tenure.
In 1982, he took the same position at South Carolina. He spearheaded the movement to the Metro Conference in 1983, where the Gamecocks remained until their inclusion in the Southeastern Conference in 1991. South Carolina won two Metro Conference championships and 10 conference tournament titles during his tenure.
Among those titles was the first of many conference championships in women’s basketball in 1986. Marcum hired Nancy Wilson, who won five Metro Conference championships. Marcum also hired Joe Morrison as head football coach in 1982. At the time, USC set school records with a 10-2 record and a No. 2 national ranking.
Among Marcum’s other ventures was time spent as vice president of Charlotte Motore Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. He returned as an AD for UMass in 1993.
Marcum is a member of the UMass Hall of Fame, inducted in 2009. In a dominant stretch for athletics at the school, Marcum saw the men’s basketball team win four Atlantic 10 championships. The school earned six consecutive NCAA tournament berths under none other than coach John Calipari.
Calipari made comments on X (formerly Twitter) following Marcums’ passing on Tuesday.
“He and I had a great couple hours in the hospital,” Calipari remarked. “Talked about our time together at UMass, he as AD and me his coach. We laughed cried and prayed.”
UMass won the 1998 NCAA I-AA, now known as FCS, title over Georgia Southern. The school made its first two NCAA tournament appearances in women’s basketball during his time as AD as well. Altogether, UMass saw 65 Atlantic 10 titles and 70 tournament appearances. The school won the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Cup six times in eight years.
He was honored as the 1999 NACDA Northeast Region I-AA Athletic Director of the Year.
Current UMass AD Ryan Bamford shared his thoughts on X as well.
“Bob was always great to me,” he said. “Generous with his time and always supportive of our efforts to advance the department. I received many nice notes from Bob and had a few fun talks by phone. May he Rest In Peace.”
Marcum’s last position was at Marshall, where he retired in 2009.
Marshall won a Mid-American Conference championship in football in 2002 along with a GMAC bowl win. The Herd won a regular season championship in the MAC and saw a NCAA Doubles Championship appearance in women’s tennis in 2004 before making the move to Conference USA.
Marcum is survived by one daughter and three grandchildren.