FRISCO, Texas – Doc Holliday is entering his 10th season coaching Marshall. In that decade, Holliday doesn’t believe he’s seen teams this evenly matched in Conference USA.

“I think this is the best it’s been from top to bottom,” Holliday told the Daily News at the annual C-USA kickoff event on Thursday. “All the teams are extremely well-coached. We’ve got some good coaches in the league and players and no doubt you’re going to have to play every week or you’ve got no chance.”

The sentiments were similar from coaches in the C-USA West Division on Wednesday. That side of the league has the defending champions in UAB and the division favorite North Texas, which received 20 of the possible 26 first-place votes. The Mean Green also boast the Preseason Player of the Year in quarterback Mason Fine and coach Seth Littrell, who recently signed a new contract after his name circulated in the coaching carousel for Power 5 openings.

League parity like Holliday expressed was a common theme among C-USA’s 14 head coaches at the two-day media sessions this week at The Star. The East Division may be tightest of the two.

Holliday’s Thundering Herd are the league favorites with 14 first-place votes, while Butch Davis’ resurgence with FIU has the Panthers predicted second with nine first-place votes.

Florida Atlantic, which won the league title in 2017, was picked third and received three first-place votes.

“I think it’s very balanced,” third-year Owls coach Lane Kiffin said. “I don’t think anybody can tell you who’s going to win it. I think the fact that there isn’t a runaway team tells you who knows what’s going to happen.”

The league wasn’t that way when Helton was coaching in the conference in 2014 and ’15. In Helton’s first year as offensive coordinator in 2014, Marshall was by far the best team in the league. The Thundering Herd finished the year ranked No. 22 in the nation, with its only loss coming to WKU in a 67-66 overtime thriller in Huntington, W.Va.

The next season belonged to the Hilltoppers, who finished 12-2, won the league title and ranked No. 24 in the final Associated Press poll. The East Division evened out last year with an eight-win Middle Tennessee team and nine-win Marshall and FIU leading the division.

Helton’s Hilltoppers are predicted to finish fifth behind Middle Tennessee. Old Dominion and Charlotte round out the division’s predicted standings.

“From the time I was here in 2014-15 I felt like there was a little more separation than the conference has now,” Helton said. “I do like that there’s a lot of parity in the conference. I think it comes down to quarterback play. If your quarterback play is good, you’ll have a good opportunity to win games. I think this is an offensive-driven conference and I think people play good defense in this conference. This conference has a lot of history of putting up a lot of points for football.

“I do like the parity and I think we’re right there in the mix.”

Davis knows advantages of returning

Butch Davis knows a thing or two about taking over a program where he was once an assistant. He believes that much will help Helton start strong at WKU.

Before his current roster was even born, Davis was working his way up the college coaching ranks as the defensive line coach for the historic Miami football team from 1984-88, when the Hurricanes won three national titles under Jimmy Johnson.

Davis joined Johnson with the Dallas Cowboys for a few Super Bowls before returning to The U as head coach from 1995-2000.

Davis is entering his third season coaching the Panthers in Miami. The 67-year-old veteran coach said returning to Miami helped him establish his thumbprint on a program and said the same could hold true at WKU for Helton, who had stints at USC and Tennessee across three seasons before returning to Bowling Green.

“I think it’s an advantage going back to a place,” Davis told the Daily News. “You know the school, the academics and the selling and recruiting areas. You know what was successful in recruiting areas and what was unsuccessful. The familiarity with high school coaches and relationships, I’m sure that’s a big positive.

“You’ve got relationships and the coaches at those schools, they knew me when I came in as the head coach and knew I would take care of their kids. That really helped and I’m sure for anybody across the country that gets an opportunity to do that, I think it helps.”

MTSU has open QB battle

The defending C-USA East Division champions will look very different on offense. Rick Stockstill will have inexperience at quarterback with the graduation of his son Brent, who set new school records at the position and led the Blue Raiders to four straight bowl appearances.

Middle Tennessee’s most experienced returner is redshirt sophomore Asher O’Hara, who completed nine passes in one half of action last season. Redshirt sophomore Chase Cunningham made a few handoffs late in games last season. The other competitor for the job is 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior college transfer Randall Johnson.

“Whoever plays hasn’t played much at all,” Stockstill said. “Those guys will go through camp and hopefully one separates himself, but we’ll go as long as it takes for that to happen.”

New Old Dominion stadium parallels with program reboot

Bobby Wilder has led Old Dominion through the transition from FCS to FBS and now has another shift happening in his program.

The Monarchs welcome 48 newcomers between freshmen and transfers all while prepping to move into a S.B. Ballard Stadium undergoing $67.5 million in renovations. Wilder told the Daily News an overhaul was needed after a 4-8 season.

“It reminds me a lot of 2013 when we first joined the league,” Wilder said. “There was a transformation and major shift in the roster. It worked out pretty good for us then and I’m confident it will now. It’s going to be a process and we have to develop it.”

Left tackle Isaac Weaver is one of four returning starters on the Monarchs’ offense. He sees an overall program parallel with a new stadium and roster revamping. Foreman Field had a capacity of 22,000 and ODU boasted sellout crowds and produced a 47-19 record there for home games.

S.B. Ballard Stadium will hold 19,818. Old Dominion opens the season at home against Norfolk State on Aug. 31.

“The new stadium is awesome,” Weaver said. “It’s being built right there, so we’re seeing the progress as it goes up every single day. We’re seeing the old one go down and the new one go up, so it’s a cool experience and I know that stadium is going to be loud that first game.”{&end}