We Are Marshall University Football Team Analysis

On a Saturday afternoon this past November, I was watching a Marshall University football home game on television. I was surprised to hear thousands of fans in the stadium repeatedly chant "We Are Marshall." It became clear to me that this team was supported by a fan base that was emotionally connected to the program. The chant also made me realize that this fan base felt that they were a part of the football team. Then, I understood why the fans felt this way. Even after all these years, students at Marshall and local residents feel connected to the team because of the loss and suffering felt by the community after what Bob Withers called " the worst air disaster in American sports history" (Withers). Few tragedies involving universities

have had such profound effects on the affected communities than the 1970 plane crash whose passengers included a majority of the Marshall University football team. On November 14th, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed on the trip home from a football game at East Carolina University. The disaster killed all seventy-five passengers in the flight, including thirty-seven Marshall football players. The crash devastated the community of Huntington, West Virginia, the home of Marshall. The sadness and loss felt by these people can not be accurately portrayed. The film We Are Marshall brings the story of the plane crash and ensuing grief to the national spotlight in an attempt to depict this suffering in Huntington. However, the accuracy of the film has caused widespread debate. The film We Are Marshall, despite its overall historical accuracy, overemphasizes, and even fictionalizes, several aspects of the events depicted in the film, especially the success of the Marshall University football program after the plane crash, in order to emphasize the theme of triumph through tragedy.

The theme of We Are Marshall is much more significant than the rebuilding of the football team; instead, the film attempts to communicate the morals of perseverance and community in the aftermath of tragedy. Huntington, West Virginia was devastated after the plane crash, as seen in the movie. Families mourned the losses of sons, brothers and fathers. After such a substantial loss, Marshall University was going to shut down its football team. The remaining players on the team, in addition to other students and town residents, wanted the team to continue playing. In We Are Marshall, The Board of Presidents hold a meeting at the university to discuss the future of the football program. In a crucial scene in the film, Marshall football player Nate Ruffin interrupts this meeting. Ruffin pleads with the president of the university, Donald Dedmon, to look out the window of the office. Dedmon reluctantly agrees, and sees hundreds, if not thousands, of students, gathered on throughout the campus. These students chant 'We Are Marshall' to show their support for the football team. Eventually, Dedmon agrees to let the football team continue to play. This scene is just one of many that displays the community coming together through the Marshall football team after the plane crash. Later in the film, up the new head coach of the team, Jack Lengyel, prepares for the program's first home game since the plane crash. On the morning of the game, Lengyel walks outside and sees hundreds of people walking through the streets, heading to the football game. Once again, the town collectively bonds together by supporting the football team. In real life, Jack Lengyel expressed that he believes that We Are Marshall spreads a message much more valuable than winning football games. Lengyel stated that "...it's not really a football movie, it's a movie about faith and hope and perseverance and love and commitment. It's a story about a town " (Cotton.) Lengyel continued, as he said that he knew that he had to help rebuild the community in addition to the football team ; "...I thought I was rebuilding the football program, but I found out [that]...there was a void in the community and the university, so this was much bigger than a football team." (Cotton). The morals of We Are Marshall are about more than football; the film portrays a community's successful journey from grief and loss to a strengthened sense of community.

We Are Marshall inaccurately portrays several real characters while creating multiple fictional or composite characters to [add more drama too vague] and to further convey the triumph to tragedy theme. Specifically, the filmmakers create the characters Annie Cantrell, Paul and Chris Griffen to add another layer to the story of the film, which is romance. Craig Greenlee, a member of the Marshall football team for two seasons prior to the 1970 plane crash, states that the film We Are Marshall does not accurately capture the events that the film is based on. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education writer Angela P. Dodson interviewed Greenlee, who stated that "The story is such a marvelous story....Why would you doctor it? Just tell the story" (Dodson). According to Dodson, Greenlee was displeased with We Are Marshall; Greenlee believed that "the movie superimposed fictionalized characters and story lines over the factual elements...." (Dodson). Greenlee, who knew many of the players that were killed in the crash, feels that the film lets the fictional aspects of its story, such as the composite characters of Cantrell and the Griffen family, override the real-life events that the film is based on. Annie Cantrell, a fictional character, is a main character in the film. Cantrell is a cheerleader for the Marshall football team, and she was dating Chris Griffen, a Marshall football player that was killed in the plane crash. Throughout the film, the relationship between Cantrell and Paul Griffen, Chris's father, is an integral aspect of the plot. In one scene, Cantrell, speaks with Paul Griffen. Griffen says, "You were going to go to California with my son....You should go, Annie." Annie begins to cry, and replies, "What about you?" Cantrell feels obligated to stay and support Paul Griffen, with whom she has found help in coping with grief. Griffen convinces Annie to move on with her life, and to go to California. (We Are Marshall) This scene is just one of many that focuses on the fictional characters/storyline rather than the real life events, which can be said for much of the movie. However, Annie Cantrell and the Griffens justifiably hold essential roles in the film. Cantrell and the Griffens represent all of those that lost loved ones in the plane crash. The filmmakers were not wrong to assume that some of the players killed in the crash had girlfriends. Cantrell, and the Griffens', purpose in this film is to illustrate the story of people that had to cope with losing significant others in the plane crash. Throughout the film, Annie Cantrell is overwhelmed by grief, which is caused by the loss of her boyfriend Chris Griffen, a Marshall football player that died in the crash. The film conveys Annie's progress, from mourning her loss to moving on with her life. Similar to the way that the comment it comes together through the football team, which builds a stronger sense of community, Cantrell also finds support in grieving. Cantrell bonds with Chris Griffen's father, Paul, who is also devastated by the loss of his son. Cantrell' storyline is an alternative perspective of the movie's main theme of triumph through tragedy, as Cantrell moves on and pursues happiness after overcoming a significant loss.

The Marshall University administration realized that it was their duty to continue the football program in order to provide the community a medium through which to unite in the wake of tragedy. Subsequently, Marshall began its search for a new coach. In We Are Marshall, after the plane crash, the president of the university, Donald Dedmon, is shown searching for a new head coach for the football team. Dedmon is shown calling many people, interviewing potential candidates for the position. The movie shows numerous phone calls with the same result, with Dedmon hanging up the phone. Dedmon is shown to be increasingly frustrated as all of these phone calls are unsuccessful. The film also shows Dedmon crossing countless names off a list of potential candidates for the job. The movie exaggerates Dedmon's search for a coach in order to make both the new head coach and the team underdogs. In real life, Marshall University's search for a new head coach was not nearly as extensive as it is shown to be in the movie. Jack Lengyel states that "I was the third and last choice" (Cotton). We Are Marshall exaggerates the university's search for a head coach in order to further portray how Marshall University had to rebuild its football team from the ground up after the plane crash, which strengthens the team's collective role as underdogs. The team is repeatedly displayed as underdogs throughout the film to further illustrate the triumph through tragedy theme by building the odds against Marshall.

Throughout We Are Marshall, Jack Lengyel is inaccurately portrayed in the film We Are Marshall to make his character more likable, relatable, and also to match common stereotypes of coaching characters in order to add excitement to the football oriented scenes. In the movie, Lengyel is shown as a coach that gets emotional and loud during football games. During the final football game in the movie, Lengyel anxiously paces the sidelines. On the final play, Lengyel yells "snap the ball." (We Are Marshall ) According to Rick Nolte, an author of The Marshall Story, the real Jack Lengyel was a reserved coach that rarely got loud or angry during football games. (Johnston) Jack Lengyel himself states that the character shown in We Are Marshall does not match his real life personality. Lengyel admits that "I definitely wasn't that animated" (Bonfiglio) .This exaggeration of the coach's personality lets the audience know how passionate Lengyel is about football, making him an even more likable character. In the film, Lengyel is shown to be an animated coach in order to stress Lengyel's role as the emotional leader of both the team and the community; Lengyel is shown to be energetic during the football games to represent how much the town cares about the football team.

Both in real life and in the film We Are Marshall, after the plane crash, Marshall University lost the majority of its football program.

In the movie, the process of recruiting new players for the team is shown to be a difficult task. The film shows Jack Lengyel and his assistant coaches looking at a board which is full of potential recruits/players. The coaches are shown crossing multiple names off of the list as many of the players commit to other universities. Similar to the scene in which Dedmon recruits a new coach, the coaches grow frustrated as they cross the names off the list. In We Are Marshall, the difficulty of the recruiting process is exaggerated in order to even further demonstrate the difficulty of rebuilding the Marshall University football team after the plane crash. These recruiting difficulties forced the team's coaches to desperately search for players to fill the team's roster. The coaches successfully recruit players from other sports at the school; specifically, the coaches sign players from the basketball team and the soccer team. The filmmakers emphasize these players from other sports in order to further build the odds against the Marshall football team; Marshall would be fielding a team full of underclassmen and soccer/basketball players while every other team would have the luxury of playing experienced upperclassmen. In other words, Marshall would have a team full of players that barely understood football while most other teams would be full of players with multiple years of high school football experience. The team's recruiting process, as with the exaggerated coaching search, is shown to be difficult in order to strengthen the team's roles as underdogs. Jack Lengyel states that the coaches did not see the difficulty of recruiting as a bad thing. "We never saw it that way, as an obstacle. We looked at it as an opportunity to build" (Fact vs. Fiction). We Are Marshall makes the football teams recruiting process appear to be

difficult, and frustrating to the coaches, to make the team appear to be underdogs.