BY TIM STEPHENS (WVSWA)
HUNTINGTON–Most coaches likely would cherish the opportunity to experience the heartache Chris Grassie did last season.
The Marshall University men’s soccer coach led the Thundering Herd to its second national championship game in five years. Unlike in 2020 when Marshall won the title, it finished runners-up to Vermont after a 2-1 loss in the championship game.
Grassie said the sting of that defeat lingers.
“You know, 90 minutes away from a national championship is not bad for a season,” Grassie said. “So, at some point it will start to feel better.”
Not bad? The achievement was plenty good enough for Grassie to be voted the winner of the Furfari Award as state College Coach of the Year by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association. The award is named for the late journalist Mickey Furfari, who covered sports in the state for 70 years.
Grassie is the second Marshall coach to capture the award the last two years. Women’s basketball coach Kim Caldwell, now at the University of Tennessee, won the 2024 Furfari Award.
Grassie said he still thinks about the title game defeat.
“Obviously, that’s a very tough way to lose,” he said.
Had Marshall won, it would have been Grassie’s 101st victory with the Herd and his 200th overall.
Grassie led Marshall to a 15-2-7 record and an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the 13th seed. Marshall finished second to West Virginia University in Sun Belt Conference play.
Grassie, 48, recruited well. Three of Marshall’s players–Lineker Rodrigues do Santos, Takahiro Fujita and Aleksandar Vukovic–were selected in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft in December.
A native of Newcastle upon-Tyne in the United Kingdom, Grassie will be honored at the 78th annual Victory Awards Dinner on May 4 at the Bridgeport Conference Center.
Finishing behind Grassie in the Furfari Award voting were former West Virginia U. baseball coach Randy Mazey and WVU rifle coach Jon Hammond.
