— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall football has filled one of its four vacancies for assistant coaches.
Seth Doege has been hired as the new offensive coordinator for the Thundering Herd. Head coach Charles Huff made the announcement Tuesday.
Doege comes to Marshall from Big Ten member Purdue, where he served as coach for tight ends in 2023.
“Seth is a young, innovative offensive mind who will bring a lot of value to both our offense and organization,” Huff said.
Doege, 34, brings a Power Five pedigree to the Herd staff.
Before Purdue, Doege spent the 2022 season with Ole Miss after three years at USC. He served in several roles with the Trojans from 2019-2021. He was offensive quality control analyst for two years and tight ends coach in his final year.
During that time, he played a big role in landing a pair of Top-100 quarterbacks for USC’s Class of 2021. One signal-caller was Jaxson Dart, who later transferred to Ole Miss and became the starter for coach Lane Kiffin.
In 2020, USC’s passing offense ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 and 11th in the FBS with quarterback Kedon Slovis. He was All-Pac 12 First Team after leading the league in completions, passing yards, total offense and completion percentage.
That came after the 2019 season in which USC was in the top 25 in six offensive categories (completion percentage, passing offense, passing efficiency, total offense, third-down conversions and first downs. Slovis was a Freshman All-American and Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.
Prior to USC, Doege spent three years Bowling Green from 2016-18 and made moves up the coaching ladder. He was a graduate assistant his first yea. He got promoted to wide receivers coach in year two and added the title of special teams coordinator in his final season with the Mid-American Conference school.
Doege showed his skills as a player where he played for quarterback for Texas Tech from 2009-12. He spent the 2013 season on the practice squad for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL. He played for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2014 before moving in to the coaching ranks.
As a senior at Texas Tech in 2012, Doege was named a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award after he finished in the top 5 nationally in passing yards, touchdowns, completions and completion percentage. The totals he compiled were: 380 completions in 541 attempts (70.2 percent), 4,205 yards and 39 touchdowns. In 2012 in a win against then-No. 5 West Virginia, he amassed 504 yards passing. He later added a seven-TD effort in a win over TCU in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and got named MVP for that effort.
In his junior season, Doege burst onto the national scene by competing 398 of 581 passes for 4,004 yards and 28 touchdowns. Among the highlights were leading the Red Raiders to an upset over then-No. 3 Oklahoma and a 40-of-44 effort against New Mexico.
Doege played in high school at Crane (Texas) High and Frenship High. He enrolled at Texas Tech where he received his bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences in 2011.
Doege and his wife, Abigail, have a daughter, Leighton Flynn.
Huff still must fill positions of offensive line coach, wide receivers coach and linebackers coach.
Marshall finished the 2023 regular-season 6-6, 3-5 in the Sun Belt. The Herd has accepted a bid to play in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl scheduled Dec. 19 in Frisco, Texas. The opponent is UTSA, which is a member of the American Athletic Conference. Marshall and UTSA were once members in Conference USA. The two have met three times in football with the Herd up 2-1 in the series.