All Matt Herting ever wanted to do in his life was coach basketball, and for the last three decades, he's been living out his dreams and stacking up the wins.
"I just feel really blessed that I've got to do this for my job, for my whole adult life," said Herting, Bishop Verot head boys basketball coach. "I never wanted to be anything else since I was a little kid."
On Saturday, Jan. 11, with a Bishop Verot win over Monsignor Pace, the legendary head coach reached a huge milestone in his career, securing his 500th victory.
"It's kind of neat to be a part of that," said Vikings senior Gavin Williams. "Five hundred is a lot of coaching years. To go out there and win for him was big for us."
Of his 29 years coaching high school basketball, Herting has spent 26 of them leading the Vikings. He coached at Marine Military Academy in Texas for a short period before making Southwest Florida his home.
"Not many people are going to give their whole adult life to one school, one program, one community," Herting said. "But I'm glad I did. I'm glad I didn't hop all over looking for greener pastures because Bishop Verot has been a great place."
His whole life has been dedicated to helping his players succeed on and off the court.
"Growing up my whole life, I always went to his camps, Hoops School," said Vikings senior Tony Cedeno. "Always just a fun coach, fun to be around. And it's pretty exciting to see a good guy like that get such a good accomplishment. It was really cool to see how excited everyone was for him. I mean, it's really hard to get 500. It's so cool. We always have a lot of respect for him."
"He teaches us a lot," Williams said. "A lot of basketball knowledge. We just learned a lot from him."
Throughout his long tenure of coaching hoop, Herting has made friends all over the country in the basketball world. Many of them sent congratulatory video messages in a montage shown after his milestone win.
"Steve Lutz at Oklahoma State, Bill Self at Kansas, Tobin Anderson, Iona, Coach [Pat] Chambers at FGCU, Chris Beard at Ole Miss, Andy Enfield, SMU," Herting said. "All those guys, nice videos, talking about old stories about me and stuff like that. It was really nice to have so many people send those things through the years."
Herting has big goals for his Vikings, especially with the postseason just around the corner. But for now, the focus is on win number 501.
"I'm a lucky guy," Herting said. "I hope I can do this a long time."
Bishop Verot is back in action on Jan. 16 at Gateway Charter.