Associate Head Coach J.C. Price's Strong Ties to Virginia Tech's Opponent Marshall

Price has plenty of ties to the Marshall program.

Nov 27, 2021; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies interim head coach J.C. Price (R) encourages his players from the sidelines against the Virginia Cavaliers during the second quarter at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Virginia Tech is set to face off against Marshall on Saturday, and Marshall fans will see a familiar face on the Virginia Tech sideline.

Defensive line coach and associate head coach J.C. Price has a storied history with Marshall, even if the Thundering Herd looks much different from years past. "Totally different," said Price, "I believe there's only one starter returning, in the center Logan Osborne, other than that I think everyone is new on their offense, so welcome to 'portal football', I guess."

He continued, "I think they're a little different scheme-wise. Obviously [Rasheen] Ali was a huge factor, he was a really good player and he's gone. I know there's a lot of RPOs and things, so a little bit different."

Marshall has seen plenty of change since the departure of Price, with none of the players that Price dealt with now on the program.

J.C. was a coach at Marshall for almost ten years, leaving James Madison University in 2011 to be Marshall's defensive line coach. He would stay with the Thundering Herd all the way through 2020, working his way up through the ranks.

Especially in his later years with the program, Price took on some very new responsibilities. He continues to be the defensive tackles' coach for the 2018 season, but then added a new title as the Co-Defensive Coordinator, and in his final year in this role he saw a large amount of growth from his defensive unit. Marshall ranked first in the nation in scoring defense (13.0 ppg), and ranked second in the country in total defense (279.4 ypg).

He also won various different accolades in his years at Marshall, being named The Conference USA Recruiter of the Year by Scout.com in 2016 for his contributions, as well as coaching plenty of All-Conference USA players to a conference title.

This résumé was impressive, impressive enough to land himself a coaching job at Virginia Tech, where he has only improved.

He was the defensive recruiting coordinator as well as the co-defensive line coach in his first year, before he was asked to be the interim head coach for the program, leading the Hokies to a rivalry win against the Virginia Cavaliers.

His deep ties to the Marshall program make the Thundering Herd's return to Lane Stadium just that much more dramatic.