C of C fires Coach Herrion

College of Charleston Men's Basketball Coach Tom Herrion received his walking papers today as the school decided to go in another direction. Coach Herrion was about to enter his 5th year at the school, in his four years there he compiled a record of 80-38, not a shabby record at all. But the problem with Herrion is that he's not Kresse. Kresse would be the legend that preceded him, the Coach that took C of C to 4 straight NCAA tournament appearances and once beat Maryland only to lose to eventual Champion Arizona and the coach that has his name on the building.

Herrion is known for his temper on the bench, he can often be seen running on the court or jumping fanatically on the sideline. One of his other problems is that he didn't run a very disciplined program, players often were in trouble with the local law but somehow weren't punished on the court.

Now it is a strange time for a school to be firing it's basketball coach as most firings usually take place at the very end of the season in March. Something tells me that there were things going on behind closed doors that the public hasn't been made aware of, maybe it was a difference in personalities with the AD or just that he hasn't had the success on the court this program is accustomed to. Whatever the underlying issue was, the school now has to find a coach at a time when most coaches have either found other jobs or signed extensions.

The replacement list has to start and end with Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall. He's a former assistant coach to John Kresse and he runs a very clean, very successful program at Winthrop, a school not known for basketball until he got there. In his 8 seasons at Winthrop he has led them to 6 NCAA tournament appearances and has been named the Big South Coach of the Year three times in 1999, 2003 and again in 2005. He turned down the opportunity to return to Charleston when the job was available in 2002, something tells me he won't turn it down a second time.

So for the first time both local colleges, Citadel and C of C, will have new basketball coaches starting the same year. Citadel's coach being Ed Conroy who replaced Pat Dennis.