Armintie Herrington - Women's Basketball Coach - Ole Miss Athletics

Armintie Herrington

Title:
Assistant Coach
Year at Ole Miss:
Ninth
E-mail:
aaprice1@olemiss.edu
Phone:
662-915-7592
Alma Mater:
Ole Miss (2007, 2019)

Ole Miss women’s basketball great, Armintie Herrington, enters her fourth season as an assistant coach under Yolett McPhee-McCuin in 2021-22 following two seasons as the Coordinator of Player Engagement in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Herrington was also an assistant coach at Ole Miss from 2009-12.

“Armintie is exactly what this program needs,” McPhee-McCuin said. “We need someone who loves Ole Miss, someone who is a proven winner, and someone who is both a great person and a tireless worker. Armintie is 'Mississippi Made,’ and the goal is to recruit individuals who exhibit not just her talent, but her character as well.”

Most recently, Herrington has helped foster Snudda Collins and Donnetta Johnson into legitmate threats on the perimeter for the Rebels. Collins, a three-star prospect coming out of Brookhaven High School, opened eyes across the league as a freshman, earning SEC All-Freshman honors after lighting the net on fire as one of the best freshman three-point shooters in the nation. Collins ended the season with 6.6 points and 1.6 threes per game, and she ended the regular season as the fifth-best freshman three-point shooter in the NCAA. Johnson, meanwhile, was Ole Miss' second-leading scorer at 12.0 points per game and was cool under pressure, dropping 20 points or more on national TV three times.

During her first season under McPhee-McCuin, Herrington mentored Rebel great Shandricka Sessom during the final season of her career, during which she led the Rebels in rebounds (5.7/game) and three-point shooting (.349) while also ranking second in points scored (9.7 PPG) and threes per game (1.8/game).

In her second season, Herrington helped develop sophomore Taylor Smith into a bonafide three-point shooter. Prior to Feb. 13, Smith had only made three career three-pointers, but beginning with a career game at Florida, she shot 52.6 percent from beyond the arc in her next five games, including going a perfect 5-of-5 from distance across a two-game span at Florida and vs. Arkansas.

Herrington previously served as an assistant coach at Ole Miss under Renee Ladner from 2009-12 following her historic Rebel career from 2004-07 and during her nine-year WNBA career that began with her selection as the No. 3 pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity that Coach Yo and the athletics administration have given me to serve these young ladies, the women’s basketball program and the university in a greater capacity,” Herrington said. “I am excited about the vision that Coach Yo has for the basketball program, and I am committed to working hard to restore national prominence to the program that both current and former players, students, alumni, fans and supporters of Ole Miss can be proud of.”

Herrington played in 290 games and started in 145 across her nine seasons, shooting a career 45.4 percent from the field and making the playoffs in each of her final seven seasons in the league. She began her WNBA career off in spectacular fashion, winning 2007 Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie honors with the Chicago Sky after averaging 7.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in her first season.

After spending her first two full seasons with the Sky, Herrington was traded in the midst of the 2009 season to the Atlanta Dream – her first of five strong years in Atlanta. She was an immediate impact as well, helping the Dream turn around from a 4-30 inaugural season in 2008 to its first-ever playoff berth in 2009. Herrington was a key piece in three Dream teams that advanced to the WNBA Finals that ultimately fell short of the title in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and Herrington was selected to the WNBA All-Defensive Team three consecutive years during her time in Atlanta from 2011-13.

She played her final two seasons on opposite ends of the country, reuniting with former Ole Miss head coach Carol Ross in Los Angeles during her 2014 season with the Los Angeles Sparks, before playing her final season in the league with the Washington Mystics in 2015.

Herrington also played around the globe in international competition, spending time in Israel, Russia, Spain and Turkey.

As a Rebel from 2004-07, Herrington was an All-American, three-time First-Team All-SEC honoree, a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year selection and the 2003-04 SEC Freshman of the Year after amassing a career line of 2,165 points (third all-time), 1,198 rebounds (second all-time), 416 assists and 403 steals (first all-time) with a 50.0 percent shooting clip.

She was lightly recruited out of high school in Myrtle, Mississippi, but her name is etched in the Ole Miss and SEC record books, as she is one of just three players to score over 2,000 points in her Ole Miss career. By the end of her career, she joined Cheryl Miller as one of just two in NCAA history to end their careers with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 400 assists and 400 steals. Additionally, at the time she was one of five in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 300 assists and 300 steals joining Miller, Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings and Sophia Young.

She still holds the SEC record for steals in a game with 12 against Illinois in 2006-07 and the SEC record for free throw attempts in a season (301) in 2006-07 and career free throws with 932 throughout her career. Herrington still holds nine Ole Miss women’s basketball records.

During her senior season in Oxford, Herrington averaged a team-high 19.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and an NCAA-leading 3.7 steals per game in leading the Rebels to their first Elite Eight since 1992. She led all scorers in the 2007 NCAA Tournament with her average of 27.8 points, highlighted by a dominant 31-point performance in the Sweet 16 vs. Oklahoma. She had 15 double-doubles on the season, bringing her career total to a school-record 57, and also recorded the second triple-double in Ole Miss history with 34 points, 15 rebounds and 12 steals versus Illinois.

At the conclusion of the season, she was named to the ESPN.com All-America first team, Associated Press third team, as well as the Kodak/WBCA All-America team and a Wooden Trophy award finalist. She joined 2009 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and Ole Miss great Jennifer Gillom as the only two Rebels in school history to be named to the Kodak/WBCA All-America team.

A member of the Ole Miss M-Club Hall of Fame Class of 2014, Herrington and her husband, Reginald, have one son, Reginald II, AKA Prince. Her husband works as an assistant principal at Grenada Lower Elementary, and the couple have been married for 10 years. Herrington completed her master's in higher education/student personnel at Ole Miss in the spring of 2019 in addition to her bachelor's degree from the University in 2007.

COACHING CAREER
Year(s)	School	Position
2018-Pres.	Ole Miss	Assistant Coach
2016-18	Ole Miss	Coordinator of Player Engagement
2009-12	Ole Miss	Assistant Coach

WNBA CAREER (Basketball Reference Bio)
Season	Team	Playoffs/Awards
2015	Washington Mystics	WNBA Playoffs, 1st Round
2014	Los Angeles Sparks	WNBA Playoffs, 1st Round
2013	Atlanta Dream	WNBA Finals; WNBA All-Defensive
2012	Atlanta Dream	WNBA Playoffs, 1st Round; WNBA All-Defensive
2011	Atlanta Dream	WNBA Finals; WNBA All-Defensive
2010	Atlanta Dream	WNBA Finals
2009	Chicago Sky (22 games) Atlanta Dream (11 games)	WNBA Playoffs, 1st Round
2008	Chicago Sky	--
2007	Chicago Sky	WNBA Rookie of the Year, WNBA All-Rookie