Van Meter Award goes to Bridgeport's Marshall

by Chris Johnson

For the WVSWA

all photos by Joe LaRocca/Connect-Bridgeport

Fresh off the school’s third boys basketball state championship and first since 2001, Bridgeport’s Dave Marshall has been named the 2025 Van Meter Award winner by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

The award is given annually to the top high school coach in the state, regardless of sport.

“I have a tough time wrapping my brain around why I deserve to be so blessed,” Marshall said. “And I don’t mean that just about this award. I mean about being here at Bridgeport and being around the kids I’ve been around. We had a terrific group of kids this year, we had a tremendous group of parents, the support from the administration I have received is off the charts in my opinion.

“I don’t feel worthy of it but I am so honored to accept it on behalf of those people, my assistant coaches, all the people who have come before me that helped me get to where I’m at for better or worse.

“I keep asking God why. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. I’m in the mindset that everything brings glory to God.

“I understand the history of the award, I really do. Just look at some of the names of the previous winners. It’s just so humbling that it’s tough to wrap my brain around it.”

The Bridgeport boys basketball team ended the year on a 23-game win streak and capped a 26-1 season with a 62-40 victory against Nitro in the Class AAA state championship game.

Marshall-coached teams are always known for being strong on the defensive end of the floor and this year’s squad was flat out dominant.

In all but three games this year the Indians held their opponent to 50 points or less. They held their opponent to 40 or less in nine games and 30 or less in eight games. Sixty-five times this year, Bridgeport held an opponent to 10 points or less in a quarter.

In two Region II tournament games and three state tournament games, the number of points allowed by Bridgeport were 30, 23, 32, 30 and 40.

“I knew all along the way we had a bunch of guys in the locker room that felt like they had something to prove,” Marshall said. “And I don’t mean just to prove they could win a state championship or prove they can score x amount of points. 

"We all know that Bridgeport is a tremendous football and baseball school. And we love being a part of that. But they wanted to prove we can be a basketball school too. They wanted to be known for that. I think they really wanted to prove it to themselves.

“They bought in to everything we did. We had our lumps along the way, but they pulled together.

“We were concerned even up to the state tournament that we didn’t have that one lock down defender. And I’m thinking how do we guard this guy or this guy or that guy. To watch a group of guys do what they did on the defensive end and do it as a community effort, man that’s what I live for. That’s what team sports are all about.”

This year’s state title also secured Marshall’s spot in an exclusive group as he became just the third coach in the history of the state to win a girls basketball state championship and a boys basketball state championship and the first to do it at the same school.

Carl Clark coached the Stonewall Jackson girls to 1983 and 1984 state titles and then coached the Capital boys to 2000 and 2001 titles.

Clyde Green coached the Romney boys to a 27-0 season and 1960 AA title and later coached Morgantown’s girls to a 23-1 record and 1978 AAA title.

Marshall was the head girls basketball coach at Bridgeport for 19 years and the Indians won the 2013 Class AA state title.

After stepping down as the girls coach at Bridgeport, Marshall had stints as the head boys coach at Liberty, his alma mater, and two stops at Robert C. Byrd as an assistant before returning to Bridgeport as the boys coach in 2020.

“To get both (state titles) at Bridgeport, that means something special to me,” Marshall said. “When I left, after about a year and a half, I realized how big of a deal Bridgeport High School was to me. Both of my children graduated from here. We put our roots in this community. I have neighbors that I’m close with. I have a church family that I’m close with.

“This is my home. And to be able to come back and be part of this community and be accepted the way my family has been accepted, it does mean something to me.

“I wanted these guys on this year’s team to know what a big deal winning a state title is. Those last minutes of a championship game, you can’t explain it. There are no words to explain how special that is. I wanted these guys to experience that, and I was happy to go on that ride with them.”

Marshall is the second coach in school history to win this award, joining Wayne Jamison, who won it in 1973 and 1980.

The Van Meter Award, the High School Coach of the Year Award until 2016, is named for Woodrow Wilson boys basketball and football coach Jerome Van Meter, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 102. Van Meter won 869 games combined as basketball and football coach and was selected as the High School Coach of the Year in 1948, 1951 and 1952.

Other coaches who received votes for this year’s award include Spring Valley girls basketball coach Bo Miller, Bridgeport football coach Tyler Phares, Wahama football coach James Toth, Martinsburg football coach Dave Walker, Point Pleasant wrestling coach John Bonecutter, Wheeling Central boys basketball coach Mel Stephens and Tug Valley boys basketball coach Garland Thompson.

Marshall will be presented with the Van Meter Award during the 78th annual Victory Awards Dinner, which will take place Sunday, May 4, at the Bridgeport Conference Center in Bridgeport.