After close to a decade of ongoing school spirit, the pandemic threatened the Marshall Mob’s tradition of passing down leadership.
The Mob is the foundation of Marshall students connecting with their inner statesmen. This year’s leaders are seniors Matt Furlong and Ryleigh Siciliano.
“The Mob leader is supposed to be the one girl and one guy that get chosen by the graduating class, in this case, class of 2021,” Furlong said. “I was friends with the guy and that’s how I got the job.”
Ahmed Ahmed was the leader the previous year; however, due to COVID-19, the lack of school spirit had reached a turning point, leaving this year’s Mob leaders ready for a change.
“From what I’ve seen and heard, Marshall’s football attendance has been bigger than it was for the past couple of years,” Furlong said. “I’m happy about what I’ve done, but we still have work to do.”
Furlong and Siciliano’s responsibilities largely consist of having a social media presence for the Marshall student body.
“I run the Mob’s Twitter and Instagram,” Siciliano said. “I create all of the spirit themes for every football game. I stand at the front of the Mob and lead the chants and get the Mob hyped.”
Not only is the title passed along, but the social media accounts, the chants, and the legacy.
“Just like [for] a lot of things at the Marshall sports games, I have no clue where [the chants] came from,” Furlong said. “Ever since I was a freshman and even before that, they’ve been there. I use the same chants that were used before me, so on and so on.”
When their reign as Mob leader comes to an end, the pair are also in charge of picking which juniors to take the throne.
“I still need to see who has the most spirit and who I think will take it seriously, so as of now, I don’t know,” Furlong said.