MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia coach Bill Stewart and Marshall coach Doc Holliday have said all the right things this week, heading into tonight's game in Huntington between the Mountaineers and the Thundering Herd.

Both men have tried to transfer the focus from the men on the sidelines to the participants on the field.

For example, there was this from Holliday, who was Stewart's assistant coach at WVU: "I have great respect for West Virginia University, but I am the head coach at Marshall University now. So all my efforts are going into making sure this team is prepared Friday night."

And from Stewart: "This is all about the guys in the arena. I don't know why people want to talk about me or Doc, but I guess some do."

Once the layers are pulled back, there is good reason for the talk. The relationship between Stewart and Holliday isn't brimming with bliss.

Some of that contention comes from a recent episode in which Holliday, already spurned by the feeling that he was passed over and should be West Virginia's coach right now and not Marshall's, did some finger-pointing at the Mountaineers.

At a Marshall preseason practice last month, a Thundering Herd staffer, at the behest of Holliday, summoned a Charleston Daily Mail reporter to point out that West Virginia players were wearing illegal "spider pads" during the first two days of Mountaineers practice, and said Marshall might report the violation to the NCAA.

Later that day, as media reports of a secondary infraction started to surface, West Virginia self-reported the violation to the NCAA, a matter that is still pending.

The contentious feelings, though, go back a few years.

Holliday, who played for West Virginia in the 1970s, was a candidate for the West Virginia job when Stewart, who was serving as interim coach after Rich Rodriguez left hastily for Michigan, had the interim tag removed after WVU's Fiesta Bowl victory Jan. 2, 2008, against Oklahoma.

Stewart coached that bowl game -- and led his team through workouts the week leading up to it -- knowing that Holliday, a University of Florida assistant at the time, wanted the job and had already interviewed for it.

Former West Virginia University president Mike Garrison, now an attorney after resigning from his post with the school Sept. 1, 2008, confirmed that Holliday was "a very serious candidate" for what became Stewart's job.

"We interviewed Doc, he was the first person we interviewed," Garrison said. "I can definitely confirm that he was a very serious candidate for the job. It would have been the 17th or 18th of December [2007] that we talked to Doc, had him up at the hotel right there by the Pittsburgh airport."

It was after that meeting that West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and then-West Virginia University athletic director Ed Pastilong pushed hard to hire Holliday, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

It didn't come to fruition.

In the afterglow of Stewart winning the Fiesta Bowl, he was hired, in a surprise move by some, as the man to follow Rodriguez.

Nonetheless, and, according to a source prompted a bit by booster pressure, Stewart hired Holliday -- a favorite of some high-dollar boosters of the West Virginia program -- as his ace recruiter, luring him away from Florida and naming him associate head coach and director of recruiting. Holliday was hired for approximately $400,000, the highest amount West Virginia has paid an assistant coach.

For the most part, the relationship between Stewart and Holliday was fine while Holliday served under him during the 2008 and '09 seasons.

But there were tenuous moments, a source with intimate working knowledge of that staff confirmed to the Post-Gazette.

It was understood, by other members of the staff, that Holliday (while not named in title) was a sort of "coach in waiting" and would be the coach if Stewart were fired. This forced an environment, at times, of Stewart looking over his shoulder, according to sources inside the WVU program.

Also, according to the source, during the end of Holliday's time in Morgantown -- he accepted the Marshall job in December -- his relationship with offensive line coach Dave Johnson, a man Stewart cares for deeply, frayed. A perceived lack of respect by Holliday toward Johnson rankled Stewart.

Then, in addition to the spider pad issue, there have been matters -- defections going from Morgantown to Huntington, involving Holliday after he left Morgantown, that have widened the expanse between Stewart and Holliday.

After Holliday took the Marshall job, three players -- Fred Pickett, Travis Bell and Darius Millines -- quickly flopped their commitments from West Virginia to Marshall.

None of those players is still at Marshall: Pickett was kicked off the team, Bell backtracked and eventually signed with West Virginia and Millines spurned both schools for Illinois.

There is also the case of highly sought-after offensive lineman Marquis Wallace, who spent preseason camp with the Mountaineers. When it was discovered his academic status was in question and he was a non-qualifier, he ended up in Holliday's program at Marshall, which unlike WVU accepts non-qualifiers.

Despite all of the issues, both coaches have lauded each other's programs this week. But underneath there is a different story. One of whistle blowing, mistreatment of colleagues and recruiting tactics that have pushed these two men apart.

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