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Entering his second season in 2008, Kerry Keating's Bronco team is a mix of youth and experience. The team is led by seniors John Bryant - the preseason favorite for WCC Player of the Year who has trimmed another 30 pounds from his frame - and Calvin Johnson. Sophomore Ben Dowdell returns after starting 29 of 30 games last season and setting the SCU freshman record for minutes played. On the youth side of the bench, Keating welcomes seven newcomers in five freshmen, junior college transfer Perry Petty and Texas Tech transfer Decensae White, who will be eligible to play in Dec., 2008. Keating's first Bronco team won 15 games in 2007-08, finishing fourth in the West Coast Conference as the eight-team league sent a record three teams to the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Both Brody Angley and John Bryant were named to the West Coast Conference First Team. Angley broke the school record for minutes played in a season; and Bryant led the WCC in blocks and rebounds and was second in scoring. Bryant broke the SCU career blocks record, entering his senior year with 162, and single season record for blocks with 76 his junior year. Mitch Henke was named the WCC Postgraduate Male Athlete of the Year. In addition, all four seniors graduated. Keating was named the 14th men's basketball coach in Santa Clara history on April 6, 2007 and was introduced to the media at a press conference on April 9, 2007. Keating came to Santa Clara after serving four seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA, helping the Bruins to Final Four appearances in 2006 and `07. Keating is only the fifth SCU head coach since Bob Feerick took the reigns of the program in 1950 and the first Bronco men's basketball head coach to be hired without having attended or coached as an assistant at SCU since 1926 when Harlan Dykes was hired as head coach. Keating made a name for himself as one of the top recruiters in the nation as well as one of the most technologically innovative coaches in college basketball. An assistant coach under Ben Howland at UCLA for four years, Keating helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2006 and `07. In addition to winning two Pac-10 titles, the Bruins also made three NCAA Tournament appearances and collected a 91-41 record. Keating played a pivotal role in bringing All-Pac-10 guard Darren Collison, a 2008 preseason All-American honoree. In addition, he assisted in the development of former Bruin Jordan Farmar (L.A. Lakers) and Arron Afflalo (Detroit Pistons), both NBA first round picks. He recruited and aided in the athletic maturation of Russell Westbrook, who was drafted No. 4 in the 2008 NBA Draft (Oklahoma City Thunder). Keating was also responsible for signing Kevin Love, the No. 1 high school player in the country, who went on to be a first-team All-American and the Pac-10 Player of the Year his freshman year. Love was the No. 5 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and is now with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2005, Rivals.com tapped Keating as one of the country's Top 25 collegiate recruiters, and in 2004, he was featured in a USA Today article about the rigors of college basketball recruiting. With a respected knowledge of technology and its use in recruiting, Keating was featured in articles about the topic in both the Los Angeles Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education, in addition to serving as a frequent clinician on the topic. In 2003, Scout.com named Keating the "most high tech" assistant in the nation. In the 2003-04 Athlon Sports College Basketball Preseason Magazine, Keating was named one of the Top 10 assistant coaches in the U.S. His recruiting efforts helped UCLA earn the nation's No. 4 incoming freshman class in 2004 (Rivals.com) and the No. 13 recruiting class in 2005 (Scout.com); and the No. 1 player in 2007, Kevin Love. During his two seasons at Tennessee (2001-03) under Buzz Peterson, Keating helped the Volunteers land top-ranked recruiting classes--highlighted in 2003 by freshman C.J. Watson, who led the Southeastern Conference in minutes played and was the league leader in assists. In 2002-03, Tennessee was 17-12 overall and advanced to the first round of the NIT. Prior to Tennessee, he spent the 2000-01 season under Peterson at Tulsa in the Western Athletic Conference. That season the Golden Hurricane was 26-11 overall and won the NIT crown. From 1998-2000, Keating was an assistant coach under Peterson at Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. During those two years, the Mountaineers were 44-17 overall, won two regular season conference titles, made two appearances in the Southern Conference championship game and earned a 2000 NCAA berth. At ASU, he worked with backcourt players and was also responsible for on-campus recruiting and scheduling. Keating helped aid in the development of Tyson Patterson, the 2000 Southern Conference Player of the Year. Keating's coaching relationship with Peterson began in the Southeastern Conference at Vanderbilt in 1994-95, when they were both assistants on Jan van Breda Kolff's staff at Vanderbilt. Keating and Peterson, now the Director of Player Personnel for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, worked together at four different schools. Before his stint at Appalachian State, Keating spent three seasons (1995-98) at his alma mater, Seton Hall, as an assistant coach under George Blaney and Tommy Amaker. With the Pirates, Keating helped produce two All-Big East guards, Shaheen Holloway and LaVell Sanders, along with current Milwaukee Bucks forward Adrian Griffin. From 1993-94, Keating was an administrative assistant under Dave Odom at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons, led by Randolph Childress and Tim Duncan, were 21-12 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Duncan has won two NBA MVP titles and Childress played in the NBA Final for the Nets vs. Duncan's Spurs team in 2003. Duncan, Childress and Odom were all recently inducted into the Wake Forest Hall of Fame. The 1993 Seton Hall graduate was a walk-on for head coach P.J. Carlesimo's Pirates during the 1989-90 season. Keating began his coaching career the next year when he served as a student assistant coach and video coordinator from 1990-93. During his four years in South Orange, N.J., the Pirates won a total of 88 games and played in the NCAA Tournament each of his last three seasons. In 1991, Seton Hall advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Keating was born on July 15, 1971 in Stoughton, Mass., and was raised in Rockville Centre, N.Y. He attended high school at Archbishop Molloy and graduated from Seton Hall Prep. His father, Larry, is one of the country's top collegiate athletic administrators. Currently a senior associate athletic director at Kansas, he was Athletic Director at Seton Hall University from 1985-97 and also served as the Associate Commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in Edison, N.J. Keating married the former Treena Camacho on Aug. 24, 2008 in the Mission Church on the Santa Clara campus and they live in San Jose. |
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