Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Saluki Athletics to host Rich Herrin-Era Reunion
02/19/2008 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2008
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki Athletics will welcome former men's basketball coach Rich Herrin and many of his former players back to campus on Saturday for a reunion gathering.
The first-ever "Rich Herrin-Era Reunion" of players and coaches will feature a private reception and public recognition at halftime of Saturday's BracketBuster game against Nevada. The game tips off at 3:30 p.m., and approximately 500 tickets are still available.
Herrin coached the Salukis for 13 seasons from 1985-1998 and compiled a 225-174 overall record. His teams won at least 20 games in six of those seasons.
The Herrin era produced a string of four-straight NIT appearances from 1989 to 1992, followed by three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1993-95. During that span, the Salukis were 155-70 and won two regular-season titles and three conference tournament championships.
Among those who played for Herrin were current head coach Chris Lowery (1990-94), who was an all-conference point guard and helped lead SIU to two NIT and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
As of Tuesday, the list of confirmed players, coaches and staff planning to attend were: Matt Badgley, Tyrone Bell, Sean Boston, Lance Brown, Scott Burzynski, Jason Garnett, Peter Goff, Mike Goich, Erik Griffin, Ryan Hammer, Wayne Harre, Rich Herrin, Scott Hesse, Randy House, Fred Huff, JoJo Johnson, Damon Jones, Jerry Jones, Dr. Don Knapp, Todd Krueger, Brian Laur, Chris Lowery, Paul Lusk, Virgil Motsinger, Brett Nehrt, Doug Novsek, Kai Nurnberger, Tim Pace, Dr. Larry Peterson (President of Shawnee Community College), Tim Richardson, Jay Schafer, Abel Schrader, Rick Shipley, John Sims, Ian Stewart, Dr. Dean Stuck, Ed Thompson, Jaratio Tucker, Jamie Veach, Rodney Watson, James Watts, Sam Weaver, Dan Weiss, Tim Wills, Matt Wynn.
In addition to his years coaching at SIU, Herrin is one of the most successful high school coaches in the history of the state of Illinois -- compiling 677 wins during stops at Okawville, Benton and Marion high schools. In fact, Herrin pointed out that his career win total of 902 games equals that of the legendary Bobby Knight.
