Saluki Athletics loses a coaching legend — Rich Herrin (1933 - 2020)
12/26/2020 | 9:19:00 | Men's Basketball
Saluki Athletics confirmed that coaching legend and Saluki Hall of Famer Rich Herrin died on Friday night at the age of 87.
A native of Benton, Ill., Herrin coached Southern Illinois from 1985 to 1998 and transformed the Salukis into a high-energy program that produced seven-straight trips to the postseason, including three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1993 to 1995. He was inducted in the Saluki Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2010.
Herrin, the 1990 MVC Coach of the Year, began his coaching career at Okawville High School in 1956 and also coached at Benton and Marion High Schools. By the time he arrived on campus at SIU, Herrin had amassed 677 career high school wins in 29 seasons.
The SIU program he inherited needed a complete rebuild. The program had won a total of 30 league games over a six-year span before his arrival in Carbondale in 1985.
After an 8-20 mark in year one, his teams posted back-to-back 12-win seasons, before a breakout campaign in 1988-89 that featured the first of six 20-victory seasons and a trip to the NIT. In 1989-90, the Salukis posted 26 victories, captured the MVC regular-season title and advanced to the NIT.
The 1990-91 season featured 18 wins and postseason victories over Boise State and Missouri State before a loss to eventual NIT champion Stanford. Herrin's Salukis won their second MVC regular-season crown in 1991-92 and advanced to the NIT.
Years of NCAA Selection Sunday frustration ended in 1992-93, as Southern Illinois posted a 14-4 league record, good for second place, and defeated Illinois State in the finals of the State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship for SIU's first NCAA Division I Tournament trip since the 1976-77 campaign.
The Salukis would also finish second in the MVC standings in 1994 and 1995, but competing as the second seed in Arch Madness, SIU took State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship titles, making Herrin the first coach in league tournament history to win three-consecutive postseason championship crowns.
In all, Herrin coached 13 seasons with the Salukis, registering a 225-174 record and 111 league victories. His players included Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year selections Ashraf Amaya (1992) and Chris Carr (1995) and eight Saluki Hall of Famers — Amaya, Carr, Troy Hudson, Chris Lowery, Sterling Mahan, Steve Middleton, Rick Shipley and Marcus Timmons. He sent a total of four players on to the National Basketball Association (Amaya, Carr, Hudson and Tony Harvey).
Herrin is survived by his wife, Sue, and children (Rodney Herrin, Kyle Herrin, Randy Herrin and Kristy (Herrin) Allardyce).
The Saluki Basketball team hosts Evansville in a game at the Banterra Center on Sunday and will observe a moment of silence in memory of Coach Herrin.
A native of Benton, Ill., Herrin coached Southern Illinois from 1985 to 1998 and transformed the Salukis into a high-energy program that produced seven-straight trips to the postseason, including three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1993 to 1995. He was inducted in the Saluki Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2010.
Herrin, the 1990 MVC Coach of the Year, began his coaching career at Okawville High School in 1956 and also coached at Benton and Marion High Schools. By the time he arrived on campus at SIU, Herrin had amassed 677 career high school wins in 29 seasons.
The SIU program he inherited needed a complete rebuild. The program had won a total of 30 league games over a six-year span before his arrival in Carbondale in 1985.
After an 8-20 mark in year one, his teams posted back-to-back 12-win seasons, before a breakout campaign in 1988-89 that featured the first of six 20-victory seasons and a trip to the NIT. In 1989-90, the Salukis posted 26 victories, captured the MVC regular-season title and advanced to the NIT.
The 1990-91 season featured 18 wins and postseason victories over Boise State and Missouri State before a loss to eventual NIT champion Stanford. Herrin's Salukis won their second MVC regular-season crown in 1991-92 and advanced to the NIT.
Years of NCAA Selection Sunday frustration ended in 1992-93, as Southern Illinois posted a 14-4 league record, good for second place, and defeated Illinois State in the finals of the State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship for SIU's first NCAA Division I Tournament trip since the 1976-77 campaign.
The Salukis would also finish second in the MVC standings in 1994 and 1995, but competing as the second seed in Arch Madness, SIU took State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship titles, making Herrin the first coach in league tournament history to win three-consecutive postseason championship crowns.
In all, Herrin coached 13 seasons with the Salukis, registering a 225-174 record and 111 league victories. His players included Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year selections Ashraf Amaya (1992) and Chris Carr (1995) and eight Saluki Hall of Famers — Amaya, Carr, Troy Hudson, Chris Lowery, Sterling Mahan, Steve Middleton, Rick Shipley and Marcus Timmons. He sent a total of four players on to the National Basketball Association (Amaya, Carr, Hudson and Tony Harvey).
Herrin is survived by his wife, Sue, and children (Rodney Herrin, Kyle Herrin, Randy Herrin and Kristy (Herrin) Allardyce).
The Saluki Basketball team hosts Evansville in a game at the Banterra Center on Sunday and will observe a moment of silence in memory of Coach Herrin.
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