Hal Herring

Who is Hal Herring?

Harold Moreland "Hal" Herring is a retired American football player and coach. He played college football at Auburn University and professionally as a center and linebacker for the Buffalo Bills in the All-America Football Conference and the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League. He later was a defensive coach at Auburn and for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers.

After graduating from high school in Alabama, Herring enrolled at Auburn in 1942 before quitting to serve in the military during World War II. He returned in 1946 and played football at Auburn through the 1948 season, when he was team captain and was named an All-Southeastern Conference player by sportswriters. After graduating in 1949, he joined the Bills and played there one season before the AAFC dissolved. The Browns then selected him in a special dispersal draft created to reassign team-less former AAFC players. He was an occasional starter at linebacker in Cleveland for three seasons. The Browns won the NFL championship in his first year and reached the title game but lost in his second and third years.

Herring ended his playing career to accept a position overseeing Auburn's defense in 1953. In his 13 years there, his defenses ranked first in the nation six times and were in the top 10 every season. Auburn won the college football national championship in 1957, when the defense allowed only 28 points. Although Herring was a successful coach, Auburn was fined $2,000 by the SEC and was placed on a three-year probation by the National Collegiate Athletics Association in 1956 after Herring gave $500 each to two halfback recruits. Herring was hired in 1966 as the Falcons' first defensive coordinator, serving in the position for three seasons. He was the linebackers coach for the Chargers in 1970, but then left the professional ranks to oversee sports at a junior college outside of Atlanta.