Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2010
- Class:
- 1999
As accomplished in the classroom as he was on the gridiron, Chad Pennington rewrote the Marshall record book during a career that culminated with a perfect 13-0 record and No. 10 national ranking following the 1999 season, the highest in school history. After being honored as the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year when he quarterbacked Marshall to the NCAA Division I-AA title game in 1995 and then redshirting in 1996, Pennington was a three-time All-Mid-American Conference quarterback as he led the team to league championships in 1997, ‘98 and ‘99. As a senior he won the Vern Smith Award as the MAC Player of the Year, the Sammy Baugh Award as the nation’s top passer, was invited to New York’s Downtown Athletic Club as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy and was named the West Virginia Amateur Athlete of the Year. As a junior, Pennington was voted MVP of Marshall’s 1998 Motor City Bowl win over Louisville as he passed for 411 yards and four touchdowns in the Herd’s first bowl victory.
On the academic side, Pennington was a two-time winner of the Cam Henderson Award as Marshall’s top student-athlete and won the National Football Foundation’s 1999 Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy as the National Scholar Athlete of the Year and was named by the College Sports Information Directors of America the Academic All-American of the Year, an honor that goes to the top college student-athlete in all sports.
After winning MVP honors in the 2000 Senior Bowl, Pennington went on to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft by the New York Jets and set the all-time NFL record for best career completion percentage (.660) over an 11-year career with the Jets and Miami Dolphins, during which he was twice named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Pennington was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and served with Mike D’Antoni as co-chairman of the MU Vision Campaign for Athletics that provided funding for the Chris Cline Athletic Complex. The Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame was named for Pennington when it opened in 2014.
