HUNTINGTON - Football coaches are a different breed. Unless you're a Doc Holliday and can drop anchor in one place for two decades, your career is going to have a lot of lines and a lot of strange, seemingly unrelated stops.
For example, offensive coordinator Bill Legg has been to West Virginia, West Virginia Tech, Eastern Illinois, Virginia Military, back to WVU, Marshall, Purdue, Florida International and back to the Thundering Herd.
And that's one of the boring resumes. Defensive coordinator Chuck Heater has coached in seven different conferences, plus Notre Dame.
And then there is new Marshall running backs coach Pepe Pearson. The former Ohio State runner came to MU from Youngstown State, which makes him one of five assistants to move up from lower divisions to Huntington.
(Others: Adam Fuller, Chattanooga, and J.C. Price, James Madison; Mike Furrey was head coach at NAIA Kentucky Christian and Todd Goebbel came from Division II Ohio Dominican.)
Pearson coached with Goebbel at Columbus-based Ohio Dominican. When Goebbel arrived, Pearson already had served five seasons there.
And while he was learning the ropes in Division II, Pearson had a second job - head coach of an indoor football team. He headed the Daytona Beach Hawgs of the National Indoor Football League from 2005-06, then the Marion Mayhem of the Continental Indoor Football league from 2007-09.
That's what I'm talking about! And it's not that high-falutin' Arena Football League - these are unstable leagues with erratic ownership and $50 game checks. In fact, both the Beach Hawgs and Mayhem disbanded soon after Pearson's tenures.
That was a football education like no other.
"You know what? It was a fun time," Pearson said with a smile. "You're dealing with a different type of athlete; they considered themselves professionals. It was great - it gave me an opportunity to see and coach at a different level.
"I was a general manager, as well. I had to manage every aspect of the team, from our budget to the coaches' salaries, to everything. It gave me a different perspective, unique perspective on coaching."
Pearson's education in coaching running backs goes back to Ohio State days, where he had a ringside seat to Eddie George's Heisman Trophy season of 1995. His position coach was another great Buckeye back, Tim Spencer.
Pearson wasn't the physical beast George was - few backs are - but he is one of nine OSU backs to top 3,000 career yards. He has played with and coached a wide range of backs, including a Harlon Hill Award semifinalist at Ohio Dominican, plus another 3,000-yard back.
"My style, I was a speedy back, a smaller back," he said. "I'm able to relate to both the smaller and bigger backs, mainly because I played with Eddie George, who was a bigger back. I kind of know his style in comparison with mine.
"I've kind of taken all of that knowledge in, as well as gaining more knowledge as my coaching career has gone on. Hopefully, with my 15-year coaching experience, I can rub some of that off on them."
Pearson takes over for Chris Barclay, who's now at Western Kentucky. He doesn't have Devon Johnson or Remi Watson, but does have a promising trio in Hyleck Foster, Tony Pittman and Keion Davis.
They combined for 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns last year in the effort to overcome Johnson's injuries. All have memorable moments.
In Pittman's case, his 129 yards and two touchdowns helped the Herd fend off Kent State. Thirty-four of those yards came in the two overtimes in the 36-29 game.
Foster ran for 122 yards at Florida Atlantic, in his first audition after losing his job at slot receiver. His 66-yard TD run helped calm nervous coaches.
Davis' finest moment came in the fourth quarter at the St. Petersburg Bowl, when he rushed 10 times for 76 yards in a clock-killing field-goal drive.
Delvin Weems, who was preparing to play at one point last year but had his redshirt preserved, needs a big spring to get in that mix and stay ahead of newcomers in he fall.
Pearson likes the faster practice tempo of Division I, and the ability to focus on teaching his backs. He doesn't have to do some of the gruntwork associated with smaller D-II staffs, and he doesn't have to wear all those different hats.
Like he did in the wild world of indoor football.
"There's a lot more to sell, in regards to the university," he said. "There's a lot more help than at the Division II level; you have to do a lot of things yourself.
"I don't mind doing that, but it's refreshing to be at this level where you get more help, and it's a much easier transition."
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Johnson attended Saturday's workout, taking a break from his pre-NFL draft preparations. He said he's fully healthy, welcome news after his tough senior season at Marshall.
He said he will be returning to Indianapolis for a full follow-up exam, which he expects to confirm previous results. All I know is this: He's healthier than I am.
Don't ask.