-Ended playing career as senior captain in 1993 on national champion North Carolina Tar Heels.
-“There’s very few guys that get to end their college playing career with a win in the last game of the season.”
-Dreamed of playing professional basketball player as a kid and wanted to take advantage of that opportunity after finishing at North Carolina.
-Good friend from college (his dad) owned a forklift company in North Carolina. Had an opening for a sales position and offered him the position.
-Had itch to get back into basketball after three years of selling forklifts.
-Playing for Coach Dean Smith has helped him on his resume. Thought it would be easier to get coaching job with connection to Coach Smith.
-Business world was very similar to the coaching world from selling component.
-“Put yourself in a situation where you have a great product.”
-Fortunate to be at great institutions where he could sell an unbelievable product and service.
-Learned a lot talking to people, finding their hot buttons, what interests they had.
-All about the relationships you build and people you know.
-Coach Smith asked him, “Are you willing to go anywhere in the country to coach?”
-First coaching job was coaching JV and varsity assistant with a friend at Bishop McGuinness High School outside Winston Salem area.
-Got connected to Middle Tennessee State assistant women’s job the next year by one of his former assistants at North Carolina.
-Asked a lot of former coaches if they thought by him going into women’s game, if he could get back into men’s game at some point.
-Coach Larrañaga was looking for a specific, young guy who was fairly new out of college that could still play and get out on the floor. He ran into Coach Guthridge on the road recruiting and asked if he knew anybody and the rest was history.
-Coach Larrañaga great motivator, recruits at a high level, knows how to build a program.
-Coaching George Evans at George Mason.
-Coach Larrañaga has done a great job finding a way to recruit at different institutions.
-George Mason roster had guys who were well connected and wanted to put the time in.
-“The teams that I’ve been apart of that were great, they were all player led."
-Western Kentucky was unique. Veteran led group but they didn’t believe they could do it. Most intense hard working group that he had ever seen.
-Each year and each team is completely different.
-Going into SEC was different level. More people involved in the recruiting process. Did a great job building South Carolina in year one.
-Relocating for the fourth time to High Point over 18 months.
-Wife played basketball and understands the process.
-Don’t know that you’re ever prepared to become a head coach.
-Took things from Coach Smith, Coach Horn and Coach Larrañaga.
-Backbone of everything he did was Coach Smith’s philosophy of “Play Hard. Play Smart. Play Together.”
-Wanted to work hard and do things the right way.
-Early on in career wondered do people CARE?
Commitment
Attitude
Respect
Effort
-One of the biggest challenges at High Point was knowing and understanding the university and finding what works.
-Checked off firsts in program history including 20 wins and post season wins.
-Unfortunate injuries in multiple years while trying to make first NCAA appearance.
-"It’s easier said than done but you need to block out all the noise. Because at the end of the day nothing really matters except what you’re doing and what you believe you’re doing."
-Focus on players and staff and getting them to believe and getting to know them.
-Contact @FiredCoachesPodcast on Twitter if you have further questions for Coach Cherry.
