5-time SC state champion coach Strait Herron named new coach of the KM Mountaineers

Kings Mountain High School last week chose one of the winningest football coaches in South Carolina to keep a championship program led for the past 14 years under Coach Greg Lloyd moving forward. Coach Lloyd announced his resignation several weeks ago after rolling up 134 wins, more than double that of any previous Mountaineer mentor.

Strait Herron, who won five state championships at South Pointe High School in Rock Hill and had successful stints at other schools in the Palmetto State, has agreed to be Lloyd’s successor and spent Thursday and Friday at KMHS meeting with players, coaches and others in the community. He said he looks forward to joining the staff and continuing the success built by Lloyd and his staff.

“Coach Lloyd has a great program, so I’m coming into what is already a good coaching situation,” he said. “It’s in great shape. The challenge for me is to keep continuing what he started in the right direction.” Herron was named head coach last Thursday and met coaches and players.

“I am really excited to be here,” he said. “I will be commuting for the time being but I hope on April 3 to be here teaching full-time.”

He said he will continue to live in Rock Hill, SC, because he has an autistic son. “I’m only about 30 minutes away, and it’s difficult to change his patterns right now. As things improve maybe we can see what we need to do but for right now I want to continue to make things stable for him.”

He may have at least one coaching hire before the ’23 season as defensive coordinator Darrel Wilson has announced his resignation. Wilson will continue to teach at KMHS.

“I plan to come in and talk to every coach and hope they will be staying,” Herron said.

“I want to have a highly-qualified offensive and defensive coordinator. I hope to fall right into Coach Lloyd’s position. I took in two classes today (last Thursday). I’m glad to have Coach Lloyd showing me the ropes.”

Herron grew up in Rock Hill where he attended North- western High School. He has coached at several schools, most notably Rock Hill’s South Pointe High where his teams won state championships in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The ‘17 team was ranked #7 in the nation.

Prior to becoming a head coach he served as South Pointe’s defensive coordinator during its state championship in 2008 and also had assistant coaching stops at Northwestern, Clover, Strom Thurmond and A.C. Flora.

As a head coach, he was the fastest football coach in South Carolina history to reach 100 wins (100-12). He served as head coach in numerous allstar games, including the 2019 U.S. Army All-American Bowl where his East team beat the West 48-14. In 2018 he was the All-American Bowl National Coach of the Year and was the East team’s defensive coordinator. In 2017 he was invited to the Nike Elite High School Football Coaches Seminar and was the South Carolina High School League Regional Coach of the Year in 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2017. In 2015 he was the Carolina

Panthers High School Coach of the Week.

He has spoken at the USA Football Conference, Nike COY Clinic. Glazier Football Clinic, Clemson Coaches Clinic, USC Football Coaches Clinic, Virginia Tech Coaches Clinic and the National Defensive Football Clinic.

“We’ll make no promises as far as wins and championships,” he said of his time here, “but we’re going to have guys coaching hard every day to be the best we can be. What you do has to be sound but you have to win championships off the field.

“One of the things we’ll be looking for will be leadership and to hold each other accountable,” he said. “I had a meeting with the team (Thursday) and I felt like I had a great response. That night I had 10 texts from seniors saying they will give me their all. That’s what I want. I look forward to leading them.

“I am already excited about the future. Friday morning several of them sent me their Huddle account. As soon as I get home I’m going to start watching every game from last