Very sad news about the loss of a Southern Illinois legend:
https://twitter.com/MikeReisSIU/status/1342837940993593345
What a career he had, both at SIU and in the high school ranks. A total basketball junkie. Glad he and the university made peace in his later years.
RIP
Sad to hear. He did have an amazing career and led the Salukis back to the promised land after years in the desert. Condolences to the family.
March on triumphantly!
Coach Herrin will be missed. Literally had a hand in coaching thousands and thousands of young men from Southern Illinois not only on all his teams he coached at the high school and college levels, but also through all the various basketball camps he ran both at SIU but also for many summers at McKendree College long after he had left SIU. He did more for southern Illinois basketball than anyone else perhaps ever will. Also, I have heard several times if it wasn’t for his efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to restore SIU basketball, the program would have either been dropped, demoted to D2 or NAIA status and never been attractive enough with the groundwork laid for Bruce Weber and Co. to then take us to the glory years of the early 2000s.
RIP Coach Herrin. He is still the only one to win 3 straight valley tourneys.
Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Famer Rich Herrin dies | Salukimania | thesouthern.com
In 1989 a small group of Alumni living in Omaha gathered to watch the Creighton game. We had seats way up in the rafters. Some how, Coach found out about us, and the next year he had 15 tickets waiting for us right behind the SIU bench
When I was a young man in my 20's, I got a call from Coach Herrin one morning asking me if I wanted to go to breakfast with him and the other SIU coaches and talk about recruiting & stuff. He and my dad were friends and he knew me as an avid fan, nothing more. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. What a great guy and what a kind and unexpected gesture I'll never forget. RIP, Coach.
Man...the late night stories he would tell after long days of working/coaching his camps were legendary.
Rest easy, Big Guy.
Coach Herrin will be missed. Literally had a hand in coaching thousands and thousands of young men from Southern Illinois not only on all his teams he coached at the high school and college levels, but also through all the various basketball camps he ran both at SIU but also for many summers at McKendree College long after he had left SIU. He did more for southern Illinois basketball than anyone else perhaps ever will. Also, I have heard several times if it wasn’t for his efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to restore SIU basketball, the program would have either been dropped, demoted to D2 or NAIA status and never been attractive enough with the groundwork laid for Bruce Weber and Co. to then take us to the glory years of the early 2000s.
No disrespect intended but that staff left behind a dumpster fire for Weber when they were fired.
Basketball would not have been dropped at SIU.
That's a nonsensical statement.
You don't make a decision to leave the NCAA after 2 bad hires in 1 program either.
Come on.
Celebrate the guy but be realistic.
It was fun while it lasted but it was appropriate for him to be shown out the door.
Mike Reis put together this montage of the Herrin era. For those like me that weren't around during this era, this was really enjoyable to listen to:
https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5390&type=Archive
Also Reis put together a bunch of interviews with former players and SIU members:
https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/siu-hofer-chris-lowery-saluki-radio-interview
https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/randy-house-saluki-radio-interview
https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/saluki-hall-of-famer-rick-shipley-on-rich-herrin
https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/shane-hawkins-saluki-radio-interview
https://soundcloud.com/mikereis-siu/fred-huff-saluki-radio-interview
@bleacher-bum: True, SIU would never have dropped basketball. But I believe SIU would have moved down to D2 if Herrin's program hadn't succeeded. SIU had already started the process with the other sports. SIU cut scholarships in all men's sports except football and basketball in half for financial reasons in the mid-80s. Baseball went from 14 to 7 scholarships, for example. Those programs went back to full funding when revenue increased in the late 80s. Basketball's attendance grew to 5700 in 1988 (12 wins) and 6700 in 1989 (NIT). From 1981 through 1986 average attendance was between 2900 and 3800. Remember, a high school coach like Herrin, albeit a very successful one, was the most attractive coaching candidate SIU had for its job in 1985. 3 more years of that kind of attendance and I believe SIU would have bailed on D1.
