Herd coach welcomed to Ashland

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September 7, 2010

By AARON SNYDER The Independent The Daily Independent Tue Sep 07, 2010, 01:42 PM EDT

ASHLAND — Marshall basketball coach Tom Herrion walked into the hoopla at the Ashland Plaza Hotel on Monday and noticed the long line of people eager to get their copy of Kentucky coach John Calipari’s book, “Bounce Back,” among other items, signed by the coach.

“When I came in I saw the line for John (on the second floor) and he was signing all those books and a young man stopped me downstairs and wanted me to sign his comic book,” Herrion joked. “I know where I stand.”

Herrion didn’t mind being what he called “the undercard” for Calipari at Monday’s Ashland Main Street fundraiser event.

“It’s important to get over the bridge and branch our brand out,” Herrion said.

The brand he’s talking about is Marshall basketball, a program from which former coach Donnie Jones departed for University of Central Florida after leading the Thundering Herd to a 24-10 record last season.

The 42-year-old Herrion, who was University of Pittsburgh’s top assistant coach the last three seasons, hopes local Kentucky fans take advantage of their “ideal location” for basketball.

“This is a basketball-rich area,” said the Herd’s first-year coach. “I respect their first loyalty as Kentucky fans, but we think we have something even closer to them in proximity and it should be a great product to come watch play.”

Marshall brings in five fresh faces to go along with eight players from last year’s team that finished fourth in Conference USA.

With approximately six weeks until practice officially begins, Herrion is excited about what he has seen so far.

“We have a good foundation,” he said. “I like the attitudes of the guys. If we can sustain our focus, effort, coachability ... the players have done a great job of adapting.”

As Marshall finalizes the 2010-11 schedule, Herrion has figured out one way to share attention with Kentucky.

“We’ll just schedule games on different nights,” he suggested with a smile.

Calipari and Herrion will be happy to share the limelight in Ashland, as the two have crossed paths several times in their careers.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Herrion said. “I saw his first game that he coached at UMass (in 1988). I was a student assistant at Merrimack at the time. They were playing Southern Connecticut and the scoreboard caught on fire.

“He’s come a long way,” Herrion added. “I want to make sure people from Kentucky know where he’s come from.”

AARON SNYDER can be reached at asnyder@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2664.

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