Tony Gibson jumped right into recruiting at Marshall in his first college head coaching job after nearly three decades as an assistant. It involved his own players.

Shortly after Charles Huff left Marshall for a job at Southern Miss, the Thundering Herd tabbed NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson as his replacement.

The Thundering Herd quickly moved on native West Virginian Tony Gibson after Huff's departure for Southern Miss

In a move announced mere minutes after former Marshall head coach Charles Huff was officially named to the same position at Southern Miss, the Thundering Herd announced his replacement -- Tony Gibson.

Shortly after Southern Mississippi announced the hiring of Charles Huff, Marshall University confirmed that Boone County native Tony Gibson is the 32nd head coach in program history. Gibson will be introduced at a press conference at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12, in Encova Auditorium at the Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation.

A 52-year-old native of Van, W. Va., Gibson has coached in both the prep and collegiate ranks in his home state; he's also previously coordinated the defense at West Virginia, as well as his current six-year run in charge of the Wolfpack defense, which is consistently among the top units in the ACC and top-25 defenses nationally.

New Marshall coach Tony Gibson said he is recruiting the 25 Thundering Herd players who entered the transfer portal when Charles Huff left for the Southern Miss job.

Tony Gibson is hitting the transfer portal to recruit players from a bowl-bound conference championship team. That team is Marshall University. The Thundering Hed introduced Gibson as its new head football coach Thursday.