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We continue our season preview coverage with Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Greg Herenda. When he was hired 6 years ago you might not have been impressed by either his alma mater (Merrimack) or his new team (FDU)…but now the Warriors are beginning their 4-year transition to D-1 and the Knights are coming off of their 1st NCAA tourney win in school history. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Herenda about his 3-PT philosophy and winning a conference tourney title on the road.
You were a PG at Merrimack College where you set a school record with 22 AST in a game: how good a player were you back in the day, and what is the key to being a good PG? On a relative scale I could play. I was a tough/gritty PG from Jersey City and could see the floor because I could not really get by anyone. The guy keeping the stats for the 22 AST game ended up being part of my wedding party! Being a PG leads to being a good coach because you need an intuitive feel for the game and the ability to know where everyone is on the floor.
How did you 1st get into coaching, and why did you take the job as head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson back in 2013? I got into coaching for 1 reason: it was the only job offer I had after graduating from Merrimack. Someone else took the head job at Lowell but then left it so Don Doucette offered me the job and I was Johnny-on-the-spot. The #1 reason I took the FDU job is that was a D-1 program in New Jersey and allowed me to come home. The only direction the program could go was up so it was a combination of location/opportunity and I am really glad that I got the job.
You began your career in Hackensack with a pair of 21-loss seasons before making the NCAA tourney in 2016: how were you able to make the leap entering year #3? Just hard work/good players/great staff and a very strong belief in myself. I knew that it would happen since I was able to perform some turnarounds at my prior coaching jobs. 2016 was the 1st time that we had our entire group who we had recruited but it happened faster than I thought it would. We went from the outhouse to the penthouse and were very fortunate. Without my players/staff we could not have done that.
Last season you had a 25-PT loss on Valentine’s Day that put your record at 12-13, but were able to turn things around and win 8 straight games including the NEC tourney title game where your 5 starters scored all 85 PTS in a 9-PT win over St. Francis PA: how much of a home-court advantage did the Red Flash have, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? That place was just banging: they had a white-out and it was filled to capacity. We had about 250 fans behind our bench and by the end we owned that gym. Our players expected to win on the road: St. Francis has incredible fans but we were not afraid of any gym we went to. That night was our night: I do not think the wheels of our bus ever hit the road on the drive home and Darnell Edge/Mike Holloway never took off the nets that they were wearing after cutting them down. It was the beginning of a historic championship run for our school.
In the 2019 NCAA tourney you had a 6-PT win over Prairie View before losing to Gonzaga: what did your team learn from that postseason experience that will help them this year? The more experience that you gain from every game (especially the big ones that you win), the more you grow as a player/coach/program. You gather confidence/wisdom: the hard part is getting back but if we do then we will be able to draw upon that. Our 3 returning starters will hopefully lead us to more championships.
You return most of your players from last year but only have 1 senior/1 grad student on the current roster after losing a pair of super seniors in Darnell Edge/Mike Holloway: how will you try to replace all of that offense/leadership? I do not think that you can: we will evolve into a different team. Without players like “Big Mike” there are possibilities for other players to step up. We cannot replace those 2 guys: they were the cornerstones of building our program into what it is but we have a talented freshman class and other guys who came off the bench last year. We love/miss them but will win a lot of games without them as well: you have no choice but to move on.
Your team was #5 in the nation with 40 3P%: what role does the 3-PT shot play in your offensive philosophy? I think that it is a complement: we want to get the ball to the basket and play at a really high velocity. We want to get a layup/dunk, and if not then we will try to get the best shot available. Everyone has to get comfortable with the new 3-PT line, especially after we lost the best 3-PT shooter in school history in Darnell, but it will help to open up the floor when opportunities arise. I give my players a great deal of confidence to shoot the 3 and they work very hard on it during the summer.
Your non-conference schedule includes road games at DePaul/Notre Dame/Kentucky: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? They all do, even our 1st game against D-3 FDU-Florham. Kentucky is the gold standard and should vie for a national title but all 3 of those teams will be difficult. We have played at Arizona/Villanova before so we know what it takes: you have to defend/rebound/take care of the ball. We love our schedule: it is exciting/sexy!
You had a health scare a couple of years ago: how is your health at the moment? Thank god I feel strong and have energy. Coaching is a very taxing profession that takes a toll on you emotionally/spiritually. I am blessed to have good kids in my program who keep me young and were behind me when I was down. I am as good as I can be and as excited as I have ever been.
You got a contract extension last summer: what are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We are here to win championships. Once we do that, we want to 1-up what we did in the NCAA tourney last year. We have to take it 1 step at a time, which is not easy, but it is attainable. Right now we are just remaining hungry and working hard and staying humble, which is our path to getting back there. We play in a really good conference and want to continue to succeed.