Sometimes the little guy does get credit

The Winthrop Basketball team has been nationally ranked for the first time ever. They are ranked 24th in the country. Most of you know I graduated from Winthrop and I loved just about every moment I had there. It is a small college with only about 6,600 students total. It may also be the most beautiful campus in the country too. It just looks like a university should. The basketball coach, Gregg Marshall, has been there for 9 years and the team has made the NCAA tournament for 7 of those years, but this year they have excelled even further. Their record is an amazing 28-4. Here is something else pretty incredible. Last year Coach Marshall was offered another job in which he would make much more money. He accepted it but the next day he gave it back. He had chose to say at Winthrop. Do you know what kind of a raise in his salary Winthrop gave him? Non, nothing, zip! He said he stayed because he liked being there and he knew they liked him too.

"Nine years of work has been poured into this," Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall said Monday. "The AP is the original poll, the one I grew up with. This is another stamp of approval that people are recognizing this basketball program and not just this season but a culmination of nine years. This validates what we've been doing for these many years."

"We're not No. 31 or 29 or 27 anymore. You don't put numbers on the teams in the list of other receiving votes but we do," Marshall said. "We don't worry about that now. There is a clear two-four in front of our name now and we are proud of that to be honest."

Here is another example of what kind of person he is. Sunday morning I sent Coach Marshall an email to congratulate him and wish him and the team well in the NCAA tournament. Today when I came home he had replied with a thanks. I bet regular people like me wouldn't get that kind of response at the larger school in our state or just about any where for that matter.