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Bearcats Hire Program-Builder In Keeley As New Basketball Coach
By JON DYKSTRA The Forum
Apr 13, 2024
Ryan Welty, far left, and his MoKan teammates celebrate with coach Matt Keeley years ago. Welty would go on to become a national champion at Northwest Missouri State, and on Saturday, Keeley was named the head coach at Northwest.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Last week, new Arkansas head coach John Calipari went viral when talking about meeting with his team then saying “there is no team.” Calipari was speaking about Arkansas’ entire team being in the transfer portal, but the future Hall of Fame coach has nothing on the challenge that Matt Keeley took on seven seasons ago.
Keeley took over an Ottawa (Ariz.) University program that didn’t have a basketball program previously. In the program’s first year, they won 15 games and took a step back the following year with five wins as Keeley built a sustainable program.
The results got better year after year with 11 wins, 13 wins and 25 wins in back-to-back years before 19 wins this past season. He was named the NCCAA National Coach of the Year in 2023 after earning NCCAA West Region Coach of the Year the previous two seasons.
That experience set Keeley up to be named the 21st head coach at Northwest Missouri State on Saturday. He takes over a very different situation than the one he inherited seven years ago.
“Obviously there is a great tradition of winning and Coach Mac has taken that to the highest level,” Keeley said. “But it exists across campus whether it is the football teams or even before with Coach (Steve) Tappmeyer. You can just step onto campus and understand that it is a special place that is driven by special people. Any time that you get a chance to be involved with something like that, you get really, really excited.”
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Keeley understands the pressure that comes with the success that the Bearcat program has recently enjoyed, but he doesn’t see that as a negative.
“The best part of that is that Coach McCollum is still on our side,” Keeley said. “He’s not on the sideline, but we don’t have to coach against that guy. He is a Bearcat through and through, so I anticipate him being a great resource for us.
“Essentially the biggest problem with Northwest Missouri State and being the next coach — it is being phrased as ‘they win too much.’ I’m not sure that is a real problem. Having been at a smaller school and some different places, we are absolutely going to take that and use that momentum and see what we can do with it.”
The Great Bend, Kan., native has a decade of experience as an assistant coach at Washburn and MidAmerica Nazarene.
His time at Washburn, as an assistant under Hall of Fame coach Bob Chipman, has given him an appreciation for MIAA basketball. His sister, Cindy, played on the 2005 National Championship team at Washburn and his father, Mike, is a Hall of Fame football and baseball player at Washburn.
“On the basketball side, it is equivalent to SEC football,” Keeley said. “And you get to go in and you are challenged every night by other great institutions and coaches. As a competitor, there are nights when that could be overwhelming because there are no nights off, but you get your juices going. That is a place that you want to go compete.”
Keeley got to know the Bearcat program and its coaches well over the years as an assistant coach as he and Bearcat coaches Ben McCollum, Austin Meyer and Andy Peterson often crossed paths on the recruiting trail.
“It turned out that we would run into a lot of those guys on the same kids,” Keeley said. “Our eye for the same type of player was often on par. Unfortunately at MidAm, there were a lot of recruiting battles that I lost to Northwest because those guys are elite and have some awesome things to offer as well.
“I think it is a deal where winning recognizes winning whether that’s a certain area high school or a certain AAU program or even other college basketball coaches, those things kinda drift towards each other and that is how we all got to know each other.”
A couple of Keeley’s own players also got recruited by McCollum’s staff as Ryan Welty and Xavier Kurth played for a MoKan basketball team coached by Keeley. Welty remembers the fire that Keeley coaches with and sees a similarity between him and McCollum in that way.
“He is a very energetic, very charismatic, very extroverted individual,” Welty said. “He is just fun to be around. He brings the energy every day. It was always fun going to practice just because of the energy he has.
“He is going to get what is best out of a specific player and let a player play to his strengths. I know that Coach McCollum is really good at that, and I feel like Coach Keeley does the same thing.”
The biggest way that he differs from McCollum is in pace of play. Keeley’s teams are known for the speed they play with while McCollum’s teams play slower and more deliberate.
“He is a play-fast type of guy,” Welty said. “… He is a relentless worker. He loves what he does and he loves coaching kids and seeing kids develop. Those are some of the biggest things that really made me enjoy playing for him.”
Now Keeley faces a quick turnaround in the modern transfer-portal world. He is getting right to work and arriving in Maryville on Monday.
“It has been a whirlwind,” Keeley said. “The most important thing is roster construction and the first part of that is taking care of the guys who have committed to Northwest. Those are the guys who have either been here for several years and have put a lot of their effort and sweat into the program. … Getting settled as a program, there is a lot that goes with that, but at the top of the list is roster construction and at the top of that list is working to retain the guys who have been a part of the program and know what it looks like to be inside the program.”
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