CSU interim head coach Jase Herl is everything a school could want in his position of power; he’s smart, energetic and has the trust of his players.
Unfortunately for Herl, his being thrust into this interim role came at an incredibly difficult time for the Colorado State Rams men’s basketball program.
Amid all the turmoil, all the unrest, all the uncertainty, Herl has been left in charge of a team ready to move on. They’re ready to move on from the constant adversity which has become the Larry Eustachy era at CSU, which Anthony Bonner put so eloquently after their win over San Jose State on Feb. 10.
“Starting from when we got here, we’ve always been built to go through adversity,” the sophomore told reporters after Herl’s first game as head coach. “Two of the assistant coaches that recruited us left after our first year. It’s just the college business, college basketball, college sports everywhere. It just happens.”
That was in 2016, when Ross Hodge and Leonard Perry – two integral members of Eustachy’s staff known for their recruiting as well as the way they earned the trust of those players – left. Then, 2017 brought the three players being declared academically ineligible, Emmanuel Omogbo nearly fought a New Mexico assistant coach after a game got ugly late and, finally, Eustachy’s “Culture of Fear” was unleashed on the public.
This season, amidst a seven-game losing streak, Eustachy was placed on paid administrative leave. His right-hand man Steve Barnes was put in charge of the team, and then also placed on paid leave two games later. Next man up: Jase Herl.
Herl has certainly made the most of his opportunity, and the team really responded to him and the rest of the coaching staff — Willy Glover, Pierce Hornung and Dantiel Daniels. In that first game Herl coached, the Rams snapped their then-nine-game losing streak, finally feeling the thrill of victory once again.
That contest was a perfect-case scenario for CSU: Breakout star Nico Carvacho enjoyed only the second 20-20 game in Rams basketball history, the team set a school record with 17 fast-break points and they set season-high with 90 points scored.
Bonner said after that win, “Jase and Willy did a good job of telling us, ‘Just focus on the games. I just want you guys to have fun.’ And I think we’ve taken the fun out of it a little bit, the Air Force games and games like that. We’ve been too focused on the wrong things. We should just be focused on what we came here for; that’s to go to school and play basketball with each other and have some fun out there.”
It’s amazing what college kids can do when they just focus on going out and having fun. Basketball is, after all, a game. It should be enjoyed, and when it is, the best play emerges from everyone.
Colorado State needed a win in the worst way against San Jose State, the basement-dweller of the Mountain West and the only team behind CSU in the standings. Then the Rams had the tough test of facing Fresno State on the road (loss, 86-65) and on Wednesday, they hosted Boise State and were blown out of Moby Arena, 87-54. It wasn’t just a bad loss, it was the worst loss in nine years and it was a team that gave up because they didn’t have enough heart, as J.D. Paige said after the loss.
“We just gotta show more heart, that’s what it comes down to,” Paige, a redshirt junior leader said of the crushing defeat. “That’s all it is, is heart. We didn’t show no heart, no competitiveness tonight. It’s just baffling.”
That lack of heart isn’t on Herl and the coaching staff, as freshman Logan Ryan explained here.
“We tried to stay positive in the huddles and Coach Jase tried to keep us motivated,” said Ryan after the ninth loss in 10 games. “But, it really falls on us.”
Herl staying positive in the huddles is the first difference compared to Eustachy’s style of coaching we’ve seen in the first 10 days of Herl’s tenure. All game, even when his Rams were down 30-plus points in the second half, there was the 30-year-old Herl clapping, encouraging his players to keep fighting.
He’s done much more in terms of changing the program for the better. Herl has recently opened some of CSU’s practices for a portion to the media, which rarely happened under Eustachy. Herl has also met with Ram Ruckus, the student-led cheering section, and then he went to the Lory Student Center on campus to hand out flyers and meet with students in person. All of that builds a better basketball community, bringing Fort Collins and the university together.
Right coach, wrong time.
After the last two blowout losses, Herl said the lack of effort from the team is on him and the rest of the coaches as he vowed to work on better motivating his team. “Now, these last two games, I don’t know if deep down we stepped on the floor believing for 40 minutes we could go out there, compete and win those games,” Herl explained after the Boise blowout. “So, that’s what we gotta do as coaches is figure out what’s going to help these guys get that belief back, get that confidence back and flip that attitude back.”
With only two regular season games remaining before the Mountain West tournament, Herl knows his time to turn their attitudes around is short. But, he’s still giving it all he’s got, which is certainly admirable.
Yes, we’re talking NCAA basketball, but this situation with Herl is reminiscent of when Eric Studesville was asked to coach the Denver Broncos in the interim after Josh McDaniels was fired. Studesville was well-liked by his players, and some fans even wanted him to stay as head coach, but instead, the Broncos went and found another, more experienced head coach in John Fox.
What happens next at Colorado State in terms of their men’s basketball head coach? First, the Eustachy situation must be resolved, and the fact it’s taken more than three weeks means Eustachy and his lawyers likely have leverage. Otherwise, CSU would have fired him with cause, avoiding the massive, $3-million buyout he’s due if he’s simply fired for no reason at all.
Then, depending on how much they have to fork over to Eustachy, Joe Parker and the Athletics Department must decide what to do next. Keep Herl as head coach or move on to someone new. With names like Becky Hammon and former assistant Hodge piquing interest, it seems like an uphill battle for Herl, even if he is just the kind of coach CSU needs right now.
