Canyons’ Herrick Denies He Made Racial Slur : Women’s basketball: Valley officials claim coach delivered derogatory comments after game Saturday night.

Valley College administrators have filed a protest with their counterparts at College of the Canyons over a racial slur women’s basketball Coach Greg Herrick allegedly made against Valley players after a game between the teams Saturday night.

Herrick adamantly denied the charges, saying they are prompted by bad feelings between the programs.

“They want to make it look like I’m a racist,” he said Thursday. “I’m disgusted with it. Everyone who knows me knows it’s ridiculous. . . . I kind of like their players, as a matter of fact.”

Chuck Ferrero, Valley athletic director, said Thursday that school administrators faxed to Canyons statements from two coaches and four players on Valley’s women’s team accusing Herrick of making derogatory remarks about black Valley players after the game.

“The ball is in their court,” Ferrero said. “We’ve asked for their response when they take action.”

Ferrero sent the same information to WSC Commissioner Aviva Kamin.

Canyons President Dianne Van Hook was unavailable for comment Thursday, but Glenn Hisayasu, dean of student services, said the school is looking into the allegations.

“The incident itself has just come to our attention,” Hisayasu said. “We are going to fully investigate it. . . . College of the Canyons does not condone in any shape or form any racist behavior and will take proper action if warranted.”

Hisayasu said it is too soon to discuss what action the college would take if the allegations are true.

“We expect to hear from them,” said Mary Ann Breckell, vice president of administration at Valley. “Our perspective as a college is we don’t tolerate this kind of thing. It has no place in our society today.”

The alleged incident occurred moments after Canyons defeated Valley, 88-60, in a Western State Conference game at Canyons.

John Taylor, first-year Valley coach, said he walked to the Canyons bench to congratulate Herrick after the game but was greeted rudely.

“I wanted to shake (Herrick’s) hand but he turned away, so I said, ‘You don’t shake hands?’ He said, ‘No. Not with (expletive),’ ” Taylor said.

According to Taylor, Herrick then walked to the Valley bench and made the comments that prompted the protest.

“Herrick followed me to my bench and started cursing me out,” Taylor said. “As he was walking away, he said to me, ‘You can take your (racial slur) home.’ ”

Taylor said he charged at Herrick, asking him to repeat the remarks, but was restrained by other Monarch coaches as Herrick walked away without replying. Taylor, assistant Sandrine Rocher and four players wrote some of the incident reports that were faxed to Canyons and Kamin.

There are five black players on Valley’s team and one at Canyons. Herrick is white and Taylor is part Latino.

Herrick, in his second season with the Cougars after coaching the boys’ teams at Cleveland and Hart highs, denied making racial remarks about players or responding with an expletive when Taylor attempted to congratulate him.

“I’m insulted that anyone would say I used a racial slur,” he said. “That word that I allegedly used has not crossed my mouth. I didn’t say that word. . . . That kind of accusation is below any kind of comment.”

Herrick said he refused to shake Taylor’s hand because he believes Valley coaches and Ferrero have been spreading malicious information about his program. He said that was the essence of his response to Taylor when he walked past the Valley bench.

“I told him, ‘I’m not shaking the hand of someone who cheats and files fraudulent documents,’ ” Herrick said. “Valley has discredited not only me but my program, and because of that I don’t respect them personally or professionally.”

Both sides have pointed fingers at each other the past two years over alleged recruiting infractions.

Herrick, who resigned at Hart after a stormy five-year relationship with administrators at the school, took over at Canyons for the 1992-93 season and immediately came under fire from Ferrero, who notified the WSC that Herrick had contacted a high school player in Valley’s recruiting area. Initial contact by a coach with a player outside a college’s recruiting area is against state rules.

Ferrero said the information came from the player, who related it to then-Coach Doug Michelson and Taylor, then the team’s assistant. Michelson, who was the boys’ coach at Hart before Herrick, is now the men’s coach at Valley.

“We caught (Herrick) recruiting illegally and turned him in,” Ferrero said. “He was cheating, plain and simple.”

The WSC did not penalize Canyons on that occasion. Kamin said Thursday that she will review the Canyons decision on the current issue before approving it or recommending different action.

“I’ll sort of try to stay out of it at this moment,” Kamin said. “I’ll let the schools take their shot at it. If I don’t agree with their decision, then I’ll get involved.”

Herrick said those salvos fired by Valley have soured him about the Monarch coaches and athletic administrators.

“Coach Taylor and others have told players I’ve recruited not to go to COC because I’m a bad guy,” Herrick said. “Now they’ve chosen to fabricate another story.”

Taylor denied making such references to Herrick and called Saturday’s incident “unfortunate.”