MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With football coaching staffs have clearly defined roles such as offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and position-specific roles, basketball staffs don’t necessarily have the same distinctions.
However, if you look through the coaching biography of second-year assistant coach Jase Herl on the official WVU website, there are references to defensive efficiency numbers posted by Herl’s teams throughout his 16-year coaching tenure.
While basketball coaching staffs share offensive, defensive and scouting responsibilities, Herl’s fingerprints are clearly focused on what the Mountaineers do while guarding the basket.
“Basketball has kind of mirrored football in having coordinators and those types of things. Everybody does it a little different from a scouting standpoint. That’s kind of how we decided to split it up. It helps because even when it is not our scout, we’re still focusing on that side of the ball,” Herl said.
“Even going back to when I played, it was something that was important to me. Then when I was at Missouri State, I was kind of on that side of the ball. As I got to North Texas, we kind of all worked through it that summer and communicated kind of what everybody, not strengths and weaknesses, but just kind of what everybody had been doing. I had obviously known Coach [Ross] Hodge from a while back and knew he was defensive-tilted.”
Herl concluded his collegiate playing career with Mesa State after the 2009-2010 season. A 6-foot-3 guard, Herl averaged 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in two seasons at the Division II school in Colorado. Following graduation, Herl served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, helping Mesa to the NCAA Tournament.
Shortly after leaving Mesa, Herl returned home to Goodland, Kansas without immediate plans to reenter the coaching profession. However, an unexpected opportunity would soon await.
“Then I actually moved back to Kansas where I was from to work for my dad at the car dealership in town. About two months after being back, I was coaching seventh grade boys basketball. The junior college in town [Northwest Kansas Tech College] decided to start a junior college basketball team. So I ended up getting that job about two months later.
“We didn’t have a team. There had never been basketball at the school before. They gave us the rest of that year to kind of recruit. I think I was 23 or 24 when I was the head coach there for three years. It kind of felt like, from a career standpoint, I needed to kind of go on and work for somebody.
“My mom was washing the jerseys. She was cleaning that stuff. My dad was helping. They actually asked my dad to be the head coach first. He is like, ‘I can’t do this. I am running a business. My son just moved back. You should talk to him’. He always hangs that over my head, that they offered him the job first. It was a very unique experience. To be able to do it in my hometown with my family around was something I will always cherish.”
In three seasons leading Northwest Kansas Tech College, Herl led the Mavericks to 56 wins and a 32-5 record in home games.
“You are organizing officials. You are ordering basketballs. You are ordering ball racks. You are doing all those things and coaching. Obviously, we always joke with Coach [Phil] Forte, because he is kind of the only one that doesn’t have a junior college background. We’ve all kind of been at that level where you kind of have to do everything and anything. You drive the vans, ride the bus and do all that. It is still basketball at the end of the day. But the attention to detail, the people you are around, the physicality, the players, obviously those things change as the levels go.”
Herl moved on to coach at South Plains College in Texas for the 2015-2016 season, serving as an assistant coach. A year later, Herl returned to the State of Colorado to take a spot on the staff at Colorado State. On February 10, 2018, Herl was unexpectedly moved into the role of interim head coach for the Rams after head coach Larry Eustachy was placed on administrative leave and his immediate replacement, Steve Barnes, was suspended. In his first game leading the team, Herl led the Rams to a 90-79 win over San Jose State.
“It was a unique situation. I just tried to make it about those guys and their experience as we could. Obviously, I kind of knew at the end what was going to happen. But you just try to be in the moment with those guys because they still were having an experience. They were at Colorado State. We were in the Mountain West after having a successful year the year before. An unfortunate situation, something I wouldn’t wish on anybody. But it was unique and you kind of learn a lot about yourself as well as caring for others as well.”
Herl went on to join the staff at Missouri State. After a five-year stint with the Bears, Herl joined Hodge on the staff at North Texas and he would later move to Morgantown with Hodge’s initial staff at WVU.
“Obviously, our staff continuity has kind of been a big thing for us. As much as the players change, us being on the same page as a staff, nowadays that is almost as important as the continuity of the players, I think.
“It is kind of what we’ve always done. You’ve had new teams. In junior college, you have 12 or 13 new guys every year. Even kind of moving on, you are just trying to focus on the process and focus on getting the guys better and controlling what you can control.”