The idea spawned more than a year ago with Randy Moss visiting a good friend.

Moss and former Marshall University football teammate John Wade were reminiscing in Wade's Tampa Bay home, alternating stories from the glory days with one-on-one PlayStation showdowns. After a few hours, Wade called another former Thundering Herd standout, Brian Reed, to share the good times.

"He called because he thought it was so funny that Randy had parked this big bus in front of his house," Reed said. "They just spent all day catching up and with Randy meeting John's family.

"And then a little later John called back."

Moss was selling Wade on bringing together their 1996 Marshall team that ran away with the NCAA Division I-AA national championship at 15-0. Wade was sold and phoned Reed in West Virginia for a local perspective.

"Randy was saying that he hadn't won a championship since he left Marshall and that (the '96 title) was something he was very proud of," said Reed, a right guard on the '96 squad. "With the 10-year anniversary coming up he really wanted to celebrate that."

Reed was ready "to jump all over it," but wanted to make sure Moss was serious. One phone call closed the deal.

"He said, 'this is something I want to do,'" Reed said. "Not only because of the success and the national championship but because I think this is something that would be tremendous for wives and families and significant others to come back and see what dad accomplished in college and who dad's friends were."

That conversation becomes reality Saturday when the 1996 Thundering Herd team reunites for the Green-White Game at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Kickoff is 4 p.m. but 1996 team members will begin tailgating at the M Club Pavilion beginning at 1 p.m.

Virtually every player and coach from Marshall's '96 Division I-AA national championship team has committed to return. The reunion, sponsored by NFL veterans Moss, Wade and fellow NFL veteran Chad Pennington, will include "90 percent of the guys who finished their career at Marshall," Reed said.

B.J. Cohen and Ricky Hall, teammates on the '96 defensive line, will fly in from their respective Arena Football League games Friday night. Other top players from a team that outscored opponents by a combined 658-210 margin include Billy Lyon, Doug Chapman, Eric Kresser, Larry McCloud, John Grace, Rogers Beckett, Tim Martin and Melvin Cunningham. Simply put, it's easier to list who can't make it back to Huntington.

Bobby Pruett, who made his debut as Marshall's head coach in 1996, also will participate, along with former assistant coaches Kevin Kelly, Tim Billings, Ernie Purnsley and Tim Nunez. Former strength coach Scott Bennett will cross the country from Wyoming.

Current offensive coordinator Larry Kueck and assistant athletic director for football operations Mark Gale also were on staff on 1996.

"A lot of these guys were seniors on the undefeated 1999 team and I'm sure they'll want to do the same type of reunion in a few years," Reed said. "We're trying to set the bar pretty high and let them see how we do it when they jump into the mix.

"It won't be easy to do what we're attempting to do."

Moss, a Pro Bowl receiver now with the Oakland Raiders, and Pennington, the New York Jets quarterback, will serve as honorary Green-White Game head coaches. Prior to kickoff, '96 team members will borrow from current head coach Mark Snyder's pre-game ritual and conduct a team walk along 20th Street into the stadium, tossing gifts to children along the way.

Then there's the matter of giving back to Marshall. Reunion organizers hope to far exceed the record spring crowd of just more than 10,000 set in 1989. Joining the '96 team will be film crews from the "We Are Marshall" movie, which chronicles the university's comeback from the 1970 football plane crash.

Considering both attractions, Reed said attendance between 12,000 and 18,000 should be realistic. Admission is $5 and proceeds benefit the Marshall QB Club.

On Saturday, anyone who purchases a ticket will be eligible to win tickets and sideline access to one of three NFL games this season. Two tickets and pregame sideline passes will be raffled off for the Raiders-Minnesota Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 14, the clash of Moss and Pennington on Dec. 31 in New Jersey and either the Jets at Tampa Bay preseason game or Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh regular season contest (Dec. 3).

"Goal number one is to come back and get everybody involved and let them know our goal is to work with coach Snyder and doing what it takes to install that program-type mentality," Reed said. "Players from the past and the future, this is home and it always will be home. Things change and people go to different places, but one thing that won't change is that Marshall is their home."