Malik Rose and Bill Herrion turned Drexel into an NCAA Tournament team. Now they’re in the Dragons’ Hall of Fame.
Rose went on to a long NBA career after Drexel made three NCAA appearances in the '90s. Herrion coached more than 900 games with Drexel, East Carolina, and New Hampshire.
Drexel hired Bill Herrion as men’s basketball coach in 1991. Replacing longtime head coach Eddie Burke, who led the Dragons to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1986, Herrion took the program to three more NCAA tourneys, and Malik Rose was a big reason.
Drexel assistant Walt Fuller recommended that Herrion recruit the overlooked center from Overbrook High, and Rose caught the first-year Drexel coach’s attention at the All-Star Labor Classic between the best players in the Public and Catholic Leagues.
It was enough to give Rose a scholarship.
“Coach Herrion saw something in me that nobody else really did,” said Rose, 51. “None of the Big 5 coaches thought they saw it. None of the other coaches in the region or the area saw it.”
With the 6-foot-7 center as the program’s premier player, Herrion’s Dragons made the NCAA Tournament from 1994 to 1996. In its third and final appearance, Drexel upset Memphis as a No. 12 seed. Rose scored 21 points in what is still the only NCAA win in program history.
On Saturday, the Dragons welcomed Rose and Herrion into Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame during an 83-78 victory against Northeastern.
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“It’s a very special and humbling event for me,” said Rose, Drexel’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,514. “It means a lot to me — probably more than any other sports memory I’ve had in my career.”
Added Herrion: “I’m very honored, very privileged for the recognition. But, I always go back to this. These things only happen as a coach if you’re very, very fortunate to have really good players.”
A lot of those players were in attendance Saturday. After Herrion and Rose made their way to center court, shaking hands with Drexel athletic director Maisha Kelly and university president Antonio Merlo, players from the ’90s tournament teams joined them.
“One of the reasons for this taking so long is because I never really wanted to do it,” Rose said. “I don’t really like a lot of this type stuff, but I spoke with Coach Herrion and Maisha the AD — she was really working hard. They were able to get a lot of my former teammates there. … That’s what really hit me. I was like, ‘Man, I get a chance to spend some time with the knuckleheads I rode the bus and the planes with.’”
The Charlotte Hornets drafted Rose in the second round in 1996, 44th overall, but he spent only one season in Charlotte before signing as a free agent with San Antonio. Rose was a valued role player for two championship teams in eight seasons with Spurs. After that, he played five years for the New York Knicks and a lone season in Oklahoma City. After a stint in broadcasting and multiple executive roles, Rose is now the head of basketball operations for the NBA G League.
Through all these stops, his Philadelphia roots have stuck around.
“When I was in the NBA, I think we had [around] 21 players from Philly that came up in the Philly [area] leagues: myself, Alvin Williams, Cuttino Mobley, Kobe [Bryant], Aaron McKie, Rasheed Wallace. … We all grew up playing together, from high school to the Pizza Hut three-on-three leagues up at King of Prussia to the hardwood courts of the NBA. We still have that brotherhood today.”
Herrion left Drexel after eight seasons. He coached for six years at East Carolina and 18 at New Hampshire. With the Wildcats, he garnered a program-high 227 victories. Herrion, who is now an assistant at Stonehill in Massachusetts, has the most wins in America East Conference history. His career record as a head coach is 464-472.
“The remainder of my head coaching career would not even have been possible if it wasn’t for those eight years at Drexel,” Herrion said. “The great thing about it was doing it in Philadelphia, which is such a great college basketball city. All the Big Five coaches I became friendly with. We finally gained unbelievable respect in the city.”
Now a member of the Big 5, Drexel no longer needs to vie for respect from the other programs. That is still not the biggest change from Herrion and Rose’s time with the Dragons, though. The average NIL budget for a mid-major program, like Drexel, is over $291,000.
“When I talk to some of my teammates, we remember over Christmas break that we were allowed to get $21 a day. It was like seven bucks a meal,” Rose said. “That’s all we could get each day over Christmas break, and we loved it. We were thankful for it. Times have definitely changed.”
Behind 22 points from Josh Reed, the current Dragons captured a bit of the energy from the NCAA Tournament teams that routinely packed Drexel’s gym. Afterward, Rose got his wish to spend some more time with his old teammates. The Dragons of the past celebrated a conference win with the team’s present players in the locker room.