John Sutherland undoubtedly is ready for some rest and relaxation.

He should be able to get plenty of both after today, when the Big Green Coaches Tour ends its annual whirlwind caravan of the Mountain State with a golf outing at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs.

For Sutherland, who became the Big Green Scholarship Foundation's executive director on March 13, the tour - 13 stops in 50 days - has been exciting but tiring.

"I'm getting old," the 48-year-old Sutherland said. "I'm tired. But it has been fun."

Sutherland replaced R.J. Gimbl, who took an athletics development position at Penn State in January.

Sutherland took the job one week after Southern Methodist eliminated Marshall from the Conference USA women's basketball tournament. Sutherland spent the past seven seasons on Thundering Herd Coach Royce Chadwick's staff.

Sutherland spearheaded many successful fundraising and marketing projects during that time.

Among them was the establishment of the Locker Room Club, which has about 200 members and raises more than $100,000 annually for the women's basketball program. He also orchestrated a season ticket drive that led to a dramatic sales increase - from three in 2000 to 776 in 2003.

Sutherland organized similar initiatives during his previous coaching stops at New Mexico State (head coach from 1996-2000), Notre Dame (assistant coach from 1993-96) and Arkansas (head coach from 1984-93).

"I have had the opportunity to work at development in each of my coaching stops and I have enjoyed the challenge of making programs better," said Sutherland, whose career started as a student assistant coach at Kent State in 1978 and advanced as an assistant coach at Arkansas in 1981.

"The only way you can do that is by getting the community involved. For me, it is a fun and challenging task to get people to invest in something you believe in."

Sutherland, who has a bachelor's degree in education from Kent State (1981) and a master's degree in sports management from Marshall (2006), hopes to provide his position with some much-needed stability.

The fundraising organization had four directors in seven years before Sutherland. That means those folks were there an average of 21 months before they left the Big Green for bigger and greener pastures.

Sutherland has no desire to follow in their footsteps.

"When I came to Marshall seven years ago, I was hoping I would have the opportunity to stay here," Sutherland said.

Although he grew up in Cleveland, his parents are from West Virginia. His dad lived in Dunbar and his mom lived in Amma. He still has relatives in Jackson and Kanawha counties.

"I love what I do," said Sutherland, a husband (Suzanne) and father of three sons (Joshua, Sean and Isaac). "I love it because this is my home.

"West Virginia is where all of my family is from. For me to be able to come home and work with people like the ones we have here is great."

Sutherland called Marshall "a special place" and praised Thundering Herd fans for their "passion" and "loyalty."

"It's not like that everywhere," he said.

Sutherland said stepping away from basketball was difficult and will be even more so "come November, when you hear the ball bouncing on the floor and the shoes squeaking out there."

"I will really miss the players," he added.

The recruiting skills Sutherland developed as a coach are paying off as a fundraiser. He now seeks commitments from fans instead of players. These days, he wants his targets to dish out the green rather than put on the green.

"That's a great way to say it because you're looking at having people attracted to your school," said Sutherland, who also is an associate athletic director. "Our job is not only to get them attracted but also to get them involved. It's the same thing.

"Since I have been here at Marshall, one of my main responsibilities has been to help promote the program and build the booster club. Although it was on a much smaller scale, the principle was the same. I loved doing it for women's basketball, and I love doing it for the Big Green.

"It reminds me a lot of recruiting in the month of July. In basketball, you go from town to town to town recruiting. You keep chasing people you think can help your program. We're kind of doing the same thing. We're going from town to town to town chasing people we think can help our program."

The 2007-08 fiscal year ends next Monday. Sutherland said the Big Green expects to give Marshall's athletic department $1.6 million. That is an increase of almost $200,000 from the 2006-07 fiscal year.

"We are raising more money than we have before," Sutherland said.