In high school at Louisville, Mississippi, Robert Herring was a four-sport letterman. Following graduation he played football, basketball and baseball as a freshman at Mississippi College. After a year of junior college, he earned his undergraduate degree at Mississippi State.

In 1969 he took the head coaching position at Jones Valley High School in Birmingham where he remained for four seasons. He spent the 1973 season as an assistant at North Alabama. In 1974, Herring returned to his hometown and coached Winston Academy in Mississippi to private school state football titles in 1975 and 1983.

In 1984, Herring came back to Alabama and accepted the head coaching job at Oneonta where he led the team to a 9-2 record and a playoff appearance. After one year at Oneonta he took over at Oxford and found great success on the football field the next fourteen seasons with the Yellow Jackets.

Each of his teams at Oxford reached the football playoffs. In eight of those seasons the Yellow Jackets were area champions. Three times, 1988, 1989 and 1993, Oxford finished as AHSAA Class 5A State Champion. The 1988 and 1993 teams were each a perfect 14-0.

During his career at Oxford, Herring's teams were 118-42 including 34-7 in area play and 21-11 in the playoffs. Only one of his teams failed to have a winning record.

He was selected Coach of the Year in Calhoun County by his coaching peers in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1998. In 1993, the Alabama Sports Writers Association named Herring its state Coach of the Year for Class 5A.

Following the 1995 season, Herring was one of six athletic directors nationally to receive the prestigious citation of excellence from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

In 1999 Herring took the head coaching position at Newnan High School in Georgia. Seven of his ten Newnan teams reached the playoffs. The Cougars were playoff participants in each of Herring's final six seasons and region champions in each of his last three years.

In 2003 and again in 2008, Newnan reached the Class AAAAA semifinals. In 2008, Newmans defense allowed only 4.4 points per game, best among AAAAA schools. His record at Newnan was 71-44 in ten seasons.

Herring was selected by his peers as Region 4-AAAAA Coach of the Year in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Following the 2008 season, Herring retired. Herring's record coaching football in Alabama was 147-61-3.

His overall career record as a head football coach in three states was 301-118-3. Coach Herring was elected to the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 2001. He is also a member of the Calhoun County Hall of Fame.