Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2015
- Class:
- 1996
Originally recruited to Marshall as a soccer player – and he scored six goals as a freshman on the 1993 soccer team – Tim Openlander jumped at an opportunity to try out as a place-kicker for the football team and became one of the most prolific scorers in school history. Recruited to Marshall from Tampa, Fla., where he had helped his soccer team to two state championships, Openlander won the Herd’s football kicking job in 1994 and that season won second-team All-Southern Conference honors as a sophomore. He would become a first team all-league selection as both a junior and senior.
Openlander shares the Marshall single-season extra point and field goal records. His extra point record of 82 stood alone atop the charts until it was tied by Justin Haig in 2014 and his 19 field goals in 1995 tied the still-standing record he shares with Dewey Klein and David Merrick. His career extra point total of 211 remains second all-time to Haig’s 220 and his 42 field goals is bettered only by Klein’s 54. Openlander made 211-of-216 career PATs and hit 75% of his field goal attempts, 42-of-56. Openlander received second team All-America honors in 1996 when he helped Marshall to a 15-0 record and the NCAA Division I-AA national championship. He was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.
