Steve Cotton, a four-time West Virginia Sportscaster of the year, returns for his 12th season as the radio voice of the Herd and 14th year as a member of the Marshall broadcast crew.

The 42-year-old native of Kalkaska, Mich., is a 1987 graduate of the University of Florida and received a master's degree from Marshall in 1995.

Cotton joined the Thundering Herd Network in 1993 and served three years as the color analyst before taking over as the school's play-by-play announcer and host of the Greg White and Bob Pruett Call-in Shows in 1996.

While a student at Florida, Cotton served as a play-by-play announcer for the Gator baseball team in 1986 and 1987. He was honored by the Florida Sportscasters Association for the state's best radio feature of 1986 and was the recipient of the 1987 "Red Barber Award," which is given annually to WRUF-AM/FM's top all-around broadcasting student. He then moved on as a play-by-play announcer at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., from 1987-91, during which time the Eagles won two NAIA national football championships. Cotton also served as the school's sports information director from 1989-91. He returned to his alma mater to broadcast games for the Lady Gator basketball team in 1992-93 before moving to Huntington.