He also had stints as an assistant with Seton Hall, Yale, and East Carolina before landing his first head coaching job at Elgin Community College in 2006–07.
In his one and only season with ECC, Herenda guided the team to an 18–11 record, helping the squad reach the Region IV District B Junior College Championship game for the first time in school history.
After a one-year stop as the head coach of Division III Cabrini College, Herenda was hired at UMass Lowell, where he led the team to a 21–8 record and second-place finish in the Northeast-10 Conference.
It sparked a run of four-straight appearances in the NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship, averaging 19 wins per season in his first five years at the helm.
In his third year with Fairleigh Dickinson, Herenda coached a team that started no upperclassmen, (four sophomores and one freshman) to the school's first Northeast Conference Championship since 2005.