Sold out: UNC game already a shutout for some

On Sept. 4, 1999, more than 15,000 Marshall fans made the trek to Columbia, S.C., to watch the Thundering Herd defeat the Clemson Tigers 13-10.

This year the Thundering Herd is going to Chapel Hill, N.C. to play the North Carolina Tar Heels and more than 5,500 Marshall fans are going with them.

Marshall's allotted tickets for the game were sold out by the first week of August. After that, some fans got tickets from UNC until those sold out as well.

According to the Marshall Ticket Office, the school received 5,500 tickets when they signed the contract to play North Carolina. Of those tickets, 1,500 of those were given to school officials, players' parents, coaches' wives and Big Green Scholarship Foundation members, 3,600 were sold to the general public and 400 were reserved for students.

Some Marshall students that wanted to go to the game said they were disappointed to find that the tickets sold out a week before school started.

"My best friend lives out in North Carolina and I was planning to stay with her and go to the game, but when I came back to school after the summer, the ticket office told me the tickets were sold out," Huntington sophomore George Williams said.

Huntington senior Martha Hanshaw, a season ticket holder, said she is disappointed that the game is sold out but understands the situation.

"I really wanted to go to North Carolina, but I will go the home games," Hanshaw said. "I went to Clemson and that was a thrill of a lifetime."

Chad Koerber, head of the Marshall Ticket Office, said the disbursement of tickets was worked out with Dean Of Student Affairs Steve Hensley and Student Government Association President Bill Walker.

"We worked out a deal to hold 10 percent of the 4,000 tickets given to us to sell to the students," Koerber said. "This agreement was worked out for the students. We had the tickets in early July and we sent press releases out to the local media. The tickets sold out in the first week in August, meaning they were on sale for a month."

Koerber said the student tickets were for good seats, situated with the rest of the Marshall cheering section.

"Usually tickets given to students are pretty bad." Koerber said. "For road games, we make an effort to give the students tickets with the Marshall fans or in the section with the band. All we are trying to do is give the students the best deal possible."