Written by Aaron-Michael Fox. 

Did you know that the Marshall Thundering Herd will have been affiliated with Nike for 35 years in 2025!?

Marshall Head Coach Jim Donnan

“Our first ‘deal’ was an over run purchase that [Head Football Coach] Jim Donnan worked out spring of 1990,” said former Herd Equipment Manager Bill Woodrum. “Those shoes had been destined for a variety of schools like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State so the swooshes were orange, maroon, etc. We had to sit and paint all the swooshes on the game shoes green and touch them up weekly. Things have changed a lot in the Marshall Equipment.”

Marshall was one of the first schools to start wearing Nike. However, early on, collegiate athletics wasn’t making all that much money for Nike and by the mid-to-late 90s, they were cutting their endorsements down to only the most prestigious programs.

At that same time, there was a trend in college football of players using an excessive amount of ankle tape that would go well down onto the shoe and cover the logos. At Marshall, covering the Nike logos on the shoes was a non-starter, so the equipment team created Nike Swoosh patterns and hand-drew logos onto the ankle tape.

Randy Moss in Nike Marshall gear in 1997.

When word of the homemade logos got back to Nike, the company leadership said they could never cut ties with a school so committed to the brand and Marshall and Nike have been partnered ever since.

“When I played at Marshall (98-02), Coach Bob Pruett was so proud of the Nike Check,” said former Thundering Herd football player Cory Dennison. “He talked about it. He made sure recruits knew we were a Nike team. Every year a Nike rep would come make sure we were all sized right and had the right Nike shoes for our position. To this day, I mostly wear Nikes.”

Marshall and Nike maintain a close relationship to this day. Current Nike CEO John Donahoe was the keynote speaker at Marshall’s commencement this past spring.