Unusual challenges are part of a winning formula for longtime coach

By John Shaughnessy

The unusual challenges to his basketball players reveal a great deal about the approach that Randall Herrman takes as a coach.

Wanting his fourth-grade boys to show respect for others, Herrman tells his players, “You will open doors for every lady

4 years old to 94 years old for the next week. I have people in the school who know you, and they will see what you’re doing. And I will ask you about it after our next practice.”

The coach at St. Therese of the Infant Jesus (Little Flower) Parish in Indianapolis follows that request with another weekly one for his players:

“They had to clear off the dishes from the table, and they had to wash all the dishes or put them in the dishwasher.”

After sharing such challenges, Herrman explains the reasoning behind them.

“It’s little things like that that make a person better,” he says. “I want them to be grateful for what they have. I want them to become better at listening to their parents and showing respect. If we don’t teach our kids to be good people, we won’t have our society today.”

For 29 years at Little Flower, Herrman has been focused on teaching those life lessons as much as he has worked to develop the skills of his players in basketball, football and baseball.

In some ways as a coach, he’s like his father, who was a staff sergeant in World War II. For both of them, winning is the goal of the game. And that starts with playing hard. There’s also the shared belief that everyone on the team is accountable to their teammates, so if one player does something wrong, they all share in the action to correct it, which often means running.

“My father treated us like soldiers,” Herrman recalls. “We had enough third-grade boys to play in a sixth-grade league. We practiced seven days a week. We were smaller than everybody, but we pressed you all the time and we ran. All my dad wanted to do was instill in you how to play basketball at your best. I’m trying to do that, but I’m also trying to instill other things into them.

“I’m more sympathetic toward the children. I never yell at them. I want them to make mistakes so I can teach them. And I try to add a lot of prayer into our games. I pray before the game, and after the game I get the other team to get in a circle and we pray. I’m more tuned into trying to help them be a full person.”

That’s what pleased Herrman the most when he recently received the St. John Bosco Award, the highest honor that the archdiocese’s Catholic Youth Organization gives a volunteer. In Herrman’s case, the award not only recognized his contributions as a coach, it acknowledged all his efforts to serve his parish.

For more than 20 years, he was involved in the Mother’s Day breakfast honoring the moms of the parish. He sings in the church choir. And he and his wife Nancy—who taught physical education at the parish school for 21 years before retiring—help at the parish festival and other times of need.

“This award is very nice, but I’m not one to look for gratification,” Herrman says. “I do what needs to be done, and I feel good about it. I know Jesus is watching what I’m doing.”

That foundation of faith supports the overall impact he hopes to have on his players.

“I try to pass along the importance of prayer, the Holy Spirit, Jesus and Mary to everybody that I coach,” he says. “They give you the tools you need to use in life.

“I pray every morning that the Holy Spirit gives me guidance for my life. I always ask God for help.” †

Related: CYO recognition highlights volunteer efforts of adults and youths