Canyons Officials Exonerate Herrick After Investigation : Junior college basketball: Probe finds no evidence women’s coach made racial slur against Valley players.

Greg Herrick, women’s basketball coach at College of the Canyons, was cleared Thursday by school officials of allegations he made a racial slur against Valley College players after a game Jan. 29.

In a four-paragraph release challenged by a Valley official, Canyons administrators said their internal investigation yielded no evidence to “substantiate the allegation that Coach Herrick made a racial slur, and it is our conclusion that the charges are unfounded.”

Glenn Hisayasu, dean of student services at Canyons who directed the investigation, based the decision on written statements, interviews with eyewitnesses available to the school and the review of videotapes from the game.

“There was nothing in anything I checked that would indicate (the alleged racial slur) occurred,” Hisayasu said. “This case was based on a lot of circumstantial evidence because we have no concrete evidence.”

Herrick, who denied the charges, said he felt vindicated.

“It feels good to be completely exonerated in this way and to be supported by the college,” Herrick said. “I think Chuck Ferrero (Valley athletic director) and the Valley people should be ashamed of themselves.”

The coach added he hasn’t dismissed the possibility of legal action against Valley personnel.

“We are still in the process of evaluating that,” Herrick said. “But right now we want to put it behind us.”

Ferrero criticized the results of the investigation.

“It comes down to them saying we are lying,” Ferrero said. “Why would we go through all this crap if we are lying?”

Both sides said it was unlikely they would pursue the incident with the Western State Conference.

Ferrero and other Valley officials made the allegation against Herrick after a WSC game last month at Canyons. The Cougars won, 88-60.

Valley Coach John Taylor, who was unavailable for comment Thursday, asserted that Herrick uttered a racial slur as he walked past the Valley bench.

“As he was walking away, he said to me, ‘You can take your (racial slur) home,’ ” Taylor said.

A few days later, Taylor, one of his assistants and four Valley players provided written statements about the incident. The statements were faxed to Canyons administrators, who initiated the investigation.

During the investigation, according to Hisayasu, Herrick said he suggested to Taylor to “just take your beating, get in the van and go home.”

Hisayasu also said written statements provided by Valley contained discrepancies, although he would not elaborate.

“There was some concern about the credibility of the testimonies,” Hisayasu said. “There was quite a bit of inconsistencies and a lot of variations in the statements made.”

Ferrero, however, disagreed with that assessment.

“There are absolutely no discrepancies,” he said. “They all basically say the same thing. . . . We did it by the letter. I told the girls to write reports by themselves and in their own words. I told the coaches the same thing.”

Ferrero also took exception to Canyons’ statement that videotapes of the game were reviewed.

“ We gave them a copy of our videotape because they didn’t have one of their own and they kept begging for it,” Ferrero said. “The tape showed nothing and now it makes it sound like they found something (to support their report).”

A feud between the programs apparently started two years ago, when Herrick took over the Canyons women’s team.

Ferrero and then-Coach Doug Michelson, now the Monarch men’s coach, accused Herrick of illegally contacting a high school player in Valley’s recruiting area and reported the incident to the WSC.

The WSC did not penalize Herrick or Canyons, and Herrick accused Valley of trying to damage his reputation.

On Wednesday night, Canyons defeated Valley at North Hollywood High, 67-60.

The game was played without incident and under close scrutiny from uniformed security personnel and officials from both schools. Fans were checked with metal detectors at the door.

The players and coaches shook hands after the game in what apparently was a directive by officials from both schools.

Said Hisayasu: “We asked both teams to be in absolute high conduct and that (shaking hands) was part of it.”