BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK : Herrick Is Pulling Out All Stops at Hart

After years of searching coast to coast, Greg Herrick found new horizons five minutes from home.

“Less than five minutes if I hit the green lights,” Herrick said of the commute to Hart High, where he is the new basketball coach.

Herrick, who tried for years to land a coaching job at a Division I college, has settled for what he considers the premier high school in Southern California. Of course, proximity has a lot to do with the attraction, but Herrick is quickly molding the Indians to fit his image.

“The team will shadow my personality,” he said. “I’m a risk taker. We’ll shoot from the hip. There will be no secrets, no tricks.”

Mostly, he’s changed the offensive tempo from deliberate and plodding to fast and furious. Instead of the old speed limit and hand signals, players have the green light to fly coast to coast.

“Why take two minutes to set up a shot when you can get the same shot in five seconds?” asked Herrick, who developed a running game while coaching at Cleveland High from 1979 to 1984 and serving as an assistant at College of the Canyons the past two years.

Apparently, there is support for a fast-break Hart attack. It took booster members somewhere between five seconds and two minutes to become enamored with Herrick when he was interviewed for the job.

Said Herrick: “I remember telling the boosters that the fans like a running game and the players like a running game. One guy chimed right in, saying, ‘and the parents like a running game.’ ”

So Herrick got the job. Building the caliber of team he had at Cleveland might be more difficult, however. He led the Cavaliers to City Section 3-A titles in 1982 and ‘83, and had a six-year record of 98-42.

Herrick admits that players at Hart don’t have the ability of his 1985 Cavaliers, whom he referred to at the time as “the finest team assembled in California.” Hart might not be the best team in the Santa Clarita Valley.

“At Cleveland I had to do more psychological coaching,” Herrick said, “getting kids to perform at the same level every night. Now I’m back to teaching the basics--dribbling, passing and shooting correctly.”

Although Cleveland is in Reseda, most of the school’s players lived in Los Angeles, attending Cleveland through programs designed to integrate City schools. More than once, Herrick was accused of recruiting players, although he consistently denied the allegations.

He’s definitely recruiting at Hart and is the first to admit it. Rather than combing the inner city for potential players, however, Herrick scanned the roster of the football team. Brian Jacobs, a 6-4, 245-pound lineman, and Jim Harper, a placekicker, will join the basketball team when football season concludes.

“I said to the team, ‘Who’s not out here who can play?’ ” Herrick said. “I found them and explained what we intend to do. I’m positive and kids are impressed by that. It just took one contact and they decided to play.”

Jacobs and Harper, a 6-0 guard who Herrick describes as very aggressive, give Hart an unmistakably physical dimension. Also, three starters return for the Indians--junior forwards Brian Allen and Curt Marzinzik and senior guard Steve Valenzuela. The point guard will be Pete Cop. The players seem to have taken a liking to the new coach.

“He’s given us the impression he’s a real winner,” Valenzuela said. “He’s like one of the guys, very in touch with the players.”

The players have also taken a liking to the running game.

“We’ll push it up the court as fast as we can,” Valenzuela said. “It’s a great change, but we’re starting to catch on. We’ve scored more than 90 points twice this summer and I can’t ever remember scoring that many before.”

The team should score a lot of points and Herrick appears to have scored high marks with players and boosters. But he isn’t satisfied. Hart is primarily a football school; the Indians won the Northwestern Conference title last season. Herrick wants equal billing for basketball.

“Cleveland was a football school when I went there and people said I couldn’t change that,” he said. “I want everyone to win, but I’ll say this: We’re not going to be the butt of the athletic program.”

The transition game: The new Hart coach replaced Doug Michelson, who was fired after allegedly bumping an official after a 43-42 loss to Schurr last February. Although Michelson will continue to teach at Hart, Herrick does not believe there will be ill feelings between the two men.

“I talked to Doug and he has been helpful in the transition of the program,” said Herrick, who was hired in May.

While the players are pleased with Herrick, several were close to Michelson.

“Sure, it will be a little weird when school starts and we see him,” Valenzuela said. “But we had no coach at all for about two months and I was anxious about the delay. The program had to go on.”

Fast-break fever: Hart plays in a summer league at Saugus High, giving Saugus Coach John Clark a first-hand glimpse at the Indians’ new style.

“They are runing wild,” Clark said. “It’s a high-risk offense that can be hurt if everybody releases and nobody rebounds, but they seem to be catching on.”

Herrick helped Clark install a fast break last season, and Saugus ran off with the Southern Section 3-A title. Clark says the running game is not as helter-skelter as it looks.

“We’ll keep the break in this year,” Clark said. “Best of all it gives each player a defined role. It actually infuses order to the offense.”

Watching Saugus play from the stands gave Herrick the desire to return to high school basketball, according to College of the Canyons Coach Lee Smelser, whom Herrick assisted the past two seasons.

“Going to those CIF playoff games lit his fire,” Smelser said. “The way Saugus played and the big crowds made him feel like he wanted to a high school head coach.”

Carry-over effect: Enthusiasm is at an all-time high at Saugus. There’s nothing like a Southern Section championship to make new players eager to impress the coach.

“The energy is there,” Clark said. “I feel good about my team and I think the kids feel pretty good about themselves.”

Only one starter--guard Rick Bilek--returns for the Centurions, but 6-5 center Vladimir Bilik, who like Bilek will be a senior, played extensively. Guard Jared Snyder is the only other varsity player coming back. Four players from Saugus’ Golden League-champion junior varsity team rode the varsity bench during the team’s run through the playoffs. Even that experience is helpful, Clark believes.

“That one month of varsity exposure allowed them to go through the preparation and the emotion,” Clark said. “They understand what it takes to be successful and are working hard at it this summer.”