Rich Herrin would rather remember his tenure at SIUC for his accomplishments than for the circumstances surrounding his recent retirement.

Although his career as a basketball coach may have ended prematurely April 10, he is not quite ready to put away his tie and clipboard.

I don’t think it (retirement) is in Rich Herrin’s nature, but I don’t have any choice right now, Herrin said. I like to coach the games. Camp is fine I like to teach young athletes. I probably enjoyed coaching at the high school level, teaching and watching them develop and become better players.

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I’ve learned to step away a little bit at the college level and let them do their thing. If they wanted me to help them, I was very agreeable to make them better players. But they really didn’t want me to help them, and I didn’t force that on them.

After 10 months of speculation on his future that included a change in contract status and a canceled press conference, Herrin handed in his resignation after being asked to do so by Saluki Athletic Director Jim Hart.

But the former Okawville and Benton High School coach whose win total at the high school and college level (841) is the second-best all-time in Illinois will not rule out the possibility of coming back to the bench at any level.

I won’t coach this year that’s pretty well a given, Herrin said. I wouldn’t say if August comes by and there would be a good coaching job come along on an interim basis, I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t coach. But I don’t plan to coach any place this year, that’s for sure.

I plan to take this year off and probably never coach again. But who knows? I don’t know what’s out there, and you never know what your health is going to be. But I love the field of coaching, and I’m not ready to just say, Step aside,’ or I would have done that a long time ago.

Herrin finished his career at SIUC with a record of 225-174, the second best mark in school history behind William McAndrew (303). Herrin also became the first and only coach to win three straight Missouri Valley Conference titles when the Salukis did that in 1993-95.

But the past three seasons have seen the Salukis fall below the .500 mark and suffer dwindling attendance. Despite the team’s failure to win, Herrin said he never put extra pressure on his players.

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All year long I never did bring it up one time and say, We need to get some victories here,’ and I wasn’t worried about it. If I wanted to get a coaching job, I could get a coaching job, Herrin said. But I’m not interested in that right now.

Adding to a difficult year for Herrin was the death of his brother, Ron, a Saluki assistant coach. Ron died of a brain anuerysm May 11.

Ron and I had gotten close together, and we had always been close, Herrin said. Sure, I really missed him. He was missed at every place that we traveled. Every place we went to, Ron Herrin was missed and brought up.

Years of handling abuse from unruly fans and pressure from administrators has allowed Herrin to handle the team’s downfall in recent years, but he still is affected by comments that question his past success.

That’s the thing that probably hurts more than anything else, Herrin said. Somebody said I wasn’t a winner, and well, you know that’s not true. I’m a winner in everything I do. I don’t have one specific accomplishment just the fact that I’ve run a clean program for all those years and the University ought to be really proud of us for that.

After a messy retirement, some have called Herrin angry and disappointed, but the veteran coach wants to put those things behind him and appreciate what he has done at SIUC.

I’m glad I was here. It’s been a tremendous, 13 enjoyable years, Herrin said. Every move was the best move I’ve ever made. I’ve had a great career.