On The Sideline With Harrison Football Coach John Herrington

DETROIT (WWJ) - They say that when you do what you love, it never feels like work. Farmington Hills Harrison head football coach John Herrington is proof of that  -- after spending the last 56 years on the sidelines coaching football --47 of which have been at Harrison.

With 13 high school football championships to his credit and within a season of breaking the Michigan record for most wins by a head football coach -- there's at least one more accolade that awaits Herrington -- the athletic complex at the high school will soon be called the Herrington Athletic Complex.

"It's a great honor but we won't have the Hawks playing there after next year -- it'll be a remembrance and I think when alumni come back they're going to feel real good about seeing the name up there and remembering some of the great times they've had on that stadium," he told WWJ's Ryan Wooley.

The reason the Hawks won't be playing at the stadium after next season is because of the school board's decision to close the school -- leaving older schools Farmington and North Farmington open, in a cost cutting move.

It's a move which Herrington says makes this honor bitter sweet.

"But my biggest regret is that I won't get to see future Hawks play there and I'll miss that a lot."

Even with that decision though, the 56-year coaching veteran says he is excited about not only this year, but next season as well, and won't officially say if he will 100 percent hang up his headset for retirement .

Herrington, 76, is just five wins shy of passing the winning-est coach record held by the legendary Brother Rice football coach Al Fracassa.

And of course, like all coaches, he's excited for the ceremony, but admits, his mind might be elsewhere ...

"It's a great honor -- probably when they give me this honor, I'll be thinking more about what I can do to try and beat Stony Creek that night, than getting the honor," he said laughing. "But I will try to get through that.

"I'm proud of it and my grand kids will be there and my daughter and it will be a nice thing," he said.