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Rich Herrin passed away last night at the age of 87-
Rich Herrin was a long-time successful head coach at Benton High School in Southern Illinois, and coached some great players who went on to successful college and pro careers such as HOF'er Doug Collins, Georgia Tech All American Rich Yunkus, and others. He accumulated 616 wins as a head coach at the high school level, including 521 in his 25 seasons at Benton HS, along with 21 Regional title.
https://thesouthern.com/sports/sport...%20wins%20list.
In 1985, he was named head coach at Southern Illinois University and spent 13 seasons there until he was replaced by Bruce Weber in 1998. He accumulated a record of 225-174 in 13 seasons. He won the MVC regular season title 3 times (1990, 1992, and 1994), and won the MVC Tournament 3 years in a row- 1993, 1994, and 1995, something that has not been done by any other MVC school.
But beside being a great coach, he is known as being a tough coach who could display a temper during games, but off the court was one of the nice guys in college basketball. I made a lot of trips to Carbondale in the years that Coach Herrin was there, and after the games, won or lost, he would sometimes visit the Bradley team hotel, and talk with the Bradley coaches and fans, sometimes for hours, in the restaurant bar. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to him there, and he would take a genuine interest in everyone he spoke to. Coach Herrin was at the Fort Myers Tip-Off that Bradley played in, and I had the chance to talk to him briefly. He was visiting his son in Florida.
Rich Herrin was a long-time successful head coach at Benton High School in Southern Illinois, and coached some great players who went on to successful college and pro careers such as HOF'er Doug Collins, Georgia Tech All American Rich Yunkus, and others. He accumulated 616 wins as a head coach at the high school level, including 521 in his 25 seasons at Benton HS, along with 21 Regional title.
https://thesouthern.com/sports/sport...%20wins%20list.
In 1985, he was named head coach at Southern Illinois University and spent 13 seasons there until he was replaced by Bruce Weber in 1998. He accumulated a record of 225-174 in 13 seasons. He won the MVC regular season title 3 times (1990, 1992, and 1994), and won the MVC Tournament 3 years in a row- 1993, 1994, and 1995, something that has not been done by any other MVC school.
But beside being a great coach, he is known as being a tough coach who could display a temper during games, but off the court was one of the nice guys in college basketball. I made a lot of trips to Carbondale in the years that Coach Herrin was there, and after the games, won or lost, he would sometimes visit the Bradley team hotel, and talk with the Bradley coaches and fans, sometimes for hours, in the restaurant bar. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to him there, and he would take a genuine interest in everyone he spoke to. Coach Herrin was at the Fort Myers Tip-Off that Bradley played in, and I had the chance to talk to him briefly. He was visiting his son in Florida.
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