The News & Advance File
Herb Daniel doesn’t often slow down. He doesn’t really have it in him. So when the coronavirus pandemic hit, he filled some extra free time with new tasks.
The spring, summer and fall passed by without the tournaments he normally would take his Gretna girls basketball team to; Daniel responded by finding a new hobby, biking. Then, when winter rolled around and a return to the court for the regular high school season never actualized, as it did for most other area teams, he found another way to fill his time.
Trading a monotonous, “kind of bored” existence for one he’s more used to, Daniel made the trek to Martinsville to volunteer with the Patrick Henry Community College women’s basketball team.
There, a theme that has come to define Daniel and the Hawks took hold: speed. In a matter of weeks, Daniel parlayed his volunteer position into another opportunity: interim coach. And this week, Daniel decided to trade the high school ranks for the college level on a permanent basis.
Daniel has resigned his post with the Gretna girls team, one he’s held since 2007, and said he’ll take over the head coaching title at PHCC for the next season.
“It’s just one of those things that fell into my lap,” Daniel said. The change represents “the next logical step” in his career, he said, adding the pandemic “opened doors that I would not have been seeking” otherwise.
The retired Army major will continue working at Gretna High as the senior Army JROTC instructor.
Daniel reflected Friday night on his 14 seasons with the Hawks, rattling off names of impressive players he’s had the opportunity to coach and remembering some of their most impressive feats.
Daniel talked about current athletes like Makeyla Mease and Ty’Nasia Witcher, who helped Gretna to back-to-back Dogwood District titles in the most recent seasons in which the Hawks competed.
Then there were others who’ve passed through the program, those who were among the best ball handlers and scorers, who often went on to play at the next level.
Daniel said those athletes were responsible for the overwhelming majority of Gretna’s success over the past decade or so. And in the same breath he used to utter those descriptions, he told of the pride he’s found in their accomplishments outside the gym.
The coach remembered a player who recently graduated from basic training, and another who will be a chef.
“All of these kids were kind of like daughters to me,” he said.
“I really got involved in their lives.”
That was always his goal, to show how much he cared about his players. That will definitely be something he’ll miss as he moves on to his new post, he added.
But the memories of those players and the feats they accomplished together will remain, he said.
When he first took over the job — a tall task in itself since Daniel hadn’t ever coached girls basketball, coming instead with the background of a former baseball player — the gym was mostly empty on game days. Recently, he said, some contests were standing room only, pointing specifically to the “electric” atmosphere during the rivalry games with Chatham.
Daniel also noted his third season with the program, when the Hawks started 0-10 or 0-11 to start the campaign, and finished as Dogwood District champ with 13 wins.
In the second meetings of the season with opponents, the Hawks got revenge on all but one of the teams they’d lost to earlier, including Dan River. The Wildcats had won by 56 in the first meeting.
“If a team beats you by 56, you’re probably not going to beat them the next time you play them in the season,” Daniel said.
But the Hawks did, winning by three, then adding to the feeling of accomplishment with two more wins over Dan River in the postseason.
That year, Daniel changed his approach midway through the season. He was trying to implement complicated plays and press defenses until he heard from the late Bob Locust — who coached at Gretna for three decades and amassed hundreds of wins — an important message: simplify.
Daniel made the pivot that year, as he has in other seasons. He said he constantly has tried to learn from other coaches in the area who’ve found success, and has implemented the lessons learned — including those in his first season, an 0-22 campaign he calls his “most successful” because of the experience he gained.
Daniel aims to put the Patriots of PHCC on a similar trajectory, and is excited for the opportunity to recruit and invest in players who have goals of using the community college as a stepping stone for a career.
By doing so, he thinks PHCC has the chance to reach the “brand name” status in the area he believes Gretna has achieved in the past 14 years.
“I want to get an excitement going in the school about women’s basketball,” Daniel said. “The same thing we were able to do at Gretna.”
February 13, 2021 at 08:07AM
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Herb Daniel stepping down as Gretna girls basketball coach for job at Patrick Henry Community College - Lynchburg News and Advance
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