When Tom Herrion was named head basketball coach at Marshall University the first thing I did was find more information about him. In my search for Herrion info I learned that he was a successful assistant at Pittsburg and is considered a great recruiter. Before his time at Pitt Herrion was head coach at the College of Charleston. Information about his time in Charleston was hard to come by. In four seasons Herrion never won less than 17 games yet was let go.
I got very curious about Herrion’s tenure at Charleston and decided to seek some answers. Being a blogger one of the most accessible ways to gain information is to talk to people in the same boat. Kevin Haborak is the owner and operator of http://www.cofcfans.com/, a message board dedicated to College of Charleston sports. Haboark was kind enough to answer a few questions about Herrion’s tenure at C of C which you will find below.
Haboark also sent the set of questions he answered to basketball writer Rich Jablonsk. Jabionsk co – authored three books on basketball strategy with former College of Charleston basketball coach John Kresse (http://www.flipkart.com/author/richard-jablonski/). I will post Jabionsk’s Q & A tommorw.
*Editors Note – Please understand that the purpose of these interviews is only to gain more information about Tom Herrion’s tenure at the College of Charleston. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not express the feelings of the Marshall Thundering Blog.
Kevin Haborak Q & A on Tom Herrion, answers are italicized:
1. What was the prevailing feeling among College of Charleston fans when Tom Herrion was named as the replacement for legendary Jon Kresse?
When he was first hired many were excited to see that he would be bringing a more up-tempo game to the Cougs, more probably fell in the camp of OK let's see what he can do, and some didn't like it from the start b/c they wanted a Kresse disciple. I fell in the second camp and supported him until about mid-way through his last year.
2. What kind of offensive and defensive system did Herrion run at C of C?
His offense was motion, with a few sets. Defense was man.
3. What is Herrion's on court demeanor like?
His demeanor started off fine, he was excitable but controlled. As the pressure built in years 3 and 4, his sideline demeanor (and his demeanor in interviews) tanked. It was because of the way that he behaved on the sideline and after the games in interviews that I finally stopped being a supporter in the 4th year.
4. What did you like about Herrion while he was your head coach?
When Herrion first started he instituted a thing where CofC fans stood until the Cougs scored their first basket, it still happens today.
5. What did you dislike about Herrion during his tenure in Charleston?
As the pressure mounted his demeanor on the sidelines was awful. He did a number of things that I felt embarrassed for the program about. Even GSU fans with Price at the helm were looking down their nose at our program and loving the downward direction it was heading fast.
6. What was the first sign of trouble during Herrion's tenure at C of C?
For me it was when Tavon Nelson got caught with a bunch of Meth. There had been a few team incidents with players leaving the team, but this one got me to think he was bringing the wrong type of player to the school.
7. Around what time did the possibility of Herrion's dismissal from C of C begin to surface?
There were people who wanted it to happen, but must thought we were stuck because he still had four years on his contract. That final year the call for Herrion to move on had become very loud due to his and his players’ issues. Even when Higdon (the president at the time and he backed Herrion the whole tenure) stepped down to take a position at another school, most didn’t think it would happen. It happened shortly thereafter when two donors offered to pony up the money to buy out Herrion if he was dismissed.
8. If you had to pick one reason why Herrion is no longer Charleston's head basketball coach what would it be?
His desire to win and take chances that led him to recruit the players he recruited. Kresse’s boys were no saints, but CofC fans were not accustomed with the types of incidents that happened under Herrion. A very close second was his reaction to problems and the people that questioned him when the problems started to mount.
9. Considering your arena is named after John Kresse do you think any one could have been a successful replacement? In other words, you never want to follow "the man" but following the guy after "the man" typically works out better.
Marshall , Betts, and Yarborough all probably could have succeeded (all Kresse disciples). I wanted Dickerson, but he didn’t do too well at Tulane, so who knows. Others would have been able to do well, but they would have had to have been better representatives of the school and more personable. I think Herrion just didn’t understand (or maybe just didn’t like) all the glad-handing that needed to be done. When Herrion didn’t take us where we wanted to go, I reminded many a fan that Kresse’s last years weren’t much better and that he needed time. After his second year, people stared to see improvement and were thinking he deserved another year to see if it kept getting better. It was in that next year where things started to get much worse instead.
10. Would you consider Herrion a good recruiter?
Based on player ability alone, yes. The problem at our school was that many of the players lacked character and were either dismissed from the team for off court incidents (assaults, drugs, and so forth) or failed out. We lost a scholarship after Herrion left due to all of the players that were dismissed. He also had recruits that never made it to the roster, most for academic reasons but at least one because of criminal charges.
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