Read worked for many years on the coaching staff of Western State Normal School in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He became the school's second head basketball coach in 1922, replacing William H. Spaulding who served as basketball coach from 1913 to 1922. Read remained as the head basketball coach at Western State until 1949.[4]
Read has been credited with introducing the fast break to basketball during the 1929-1930 season.[5] (Others credit Frank Keaney with the innovation.[6]) He later recalled that the slow pace of the game made it difficult to attract fans when he learned of the popularity of the fast-paced game of hockey in Detroit.[7][5] "I made revisions in drills for faster ball handling and footwork. Then I changed from the zone defense to an advancing, interchanging, intercepting pattern of playing all over the floor. It was hard for the players to switch, but the new style was effective and popular from the start."[7] In the team's first year using the fast break approach, Read's team compiled a perfect 17-0 record.
Read also served for many years as an official of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). He was elected president in March 1948 and serve in that position until March 1949.[8][9] He previously served for many years as a member of the NABC rules committee. He was chairman of the rules committee in 1937, 1938, and 1944, chairman of the research committee in 1943, and at other times secretary-treasurer and vice president.[8]
Read retired in 1949 with a 353–157 record (.692) in 28 seasons as head basketball coach at Western Michigan.[10] He received numerous honors for his contributions to the sport of basketball and athletics at Western Michigan. These include the following:
In June 1963, he was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation's basketball hall of fame.[11]
^Draft Registration Card for Herbert William Read, resident of Kalamazoo, Michigan, born February 8, 1880, in Saxmundham, England, employed at Western Michigan College. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line].
^Declaration of Intention, U.S. Department of Labor, Naturalization Service, dated March 14, 1917. Herbert William Read, born February 8, 1880, in Saxmundham, England, employed as an athletic instructor at the Y.M.C.A. Hotel at Wabash and 8th Ave. in Chicago. Ancestry.com. Illinois, Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991 [database on-line].
^1930 U.S. Census entry for Herbert W. Read, born in England, employed as a teacher at the State School in Kalamazoo. Census Place: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Roll: 997; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0024; Image: 673.0; FHL microfilm: 2340732. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line].