By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
MARYVILLE - Matt Keeley started from the ground up when he took over as the head men's basketball coach at Ottawa University in Arizona.
Literally. The program didn't exist until he started in 2017.
Seven years, 113 wins, three national tournament berths and two conference titles later, Keeley takes over, arguably, the most structurally sound Division II men's program in the country.
Keeley was picked as the 21st coach in the history of Northwest men's basketball on April 13, and officially introduced Wednesday at the Lamkin Activity Center on the Maryville campus.
Being Ben McCollum's successor, Keeley says it's McCollum's predecessor, Steve Tappmeyer, who offered some words of wisdom in the early days on the job.
"(Steve) challenged me to just continue to embrace the greatness that this place is," Keeley said, "and to see it as something you're a part of in the story, and not something you're not trying to come and reinvent. And, I certainly took that to heart."
Keeley knows Northwest and the MIAA well enough, even before this job was on his radar. He was an assistant at Washburn from 2007-09 and then at MidAmerica Nazarene from 2009-17.
Northwest athletic director Andy Peterson was an assistant on McCollum's staff at Northwest from 2011-17. Peterson says it always 'stuck with him' that the Bearcats and Pioneers seemed to go after the same type of players on the recruiting trail.
"(Matt) knows the value of the type of student-athletes we're after," Peterson said. "I can't tell you how many kids we recruited against each other on. It seemed, when it came down to the wire of where that kid was going to go, it was Northwest, Washburn and MidAmerica Nazarene. Northwest, UCM, MidAmerica Nazarene."
Keeley, a father of four, knows moving a family from the Phoenix metro to Maryville is no small thing. His oldest son, Cade, is a multi-sport athlete coming up through high school.
He was the toughest sell, but became more bought in the more he learned about the Bearcats' rich history.
"Like a coaches' kid, he's processing," Keeley said.
"He goes, 'D2? Yup, D2. Alright. Are we going to have some more scholarships? Yeah, we'll have some more scholarships up there. Okay.'"
"He's checking it out. Just thinking it through. 'They pretty good? Yeah, man. They're pretty good.'"
Indeed, pretty good. Northwest has won four national titles, all since 2017, to go with 11 consecutive MIAA regular championships and eight MIAA tournament titles in the last nine seasons.
Taking over the program that's achieved so much over the last 15 years is no small task. Nor is assembling its roster.
McCollum is taking starters Bennett Stirtz, Isaiah Jackson and Daniel Abrieu with him to Drake, but Keeley expressed confidence that the nine other players on roster, for now, seem all in on coming back for the upcoming season.
That includes Luke Moustakas, Mitch Mascari and Byron Alexander - all with healthy starting and playing experience. Trey Moala, Jack Ratigan and Blake Danitschek also saw healthy minutes as underclassmen this past season.
Keeley can't be McCollum the sequel. No one can. However, Keeley promises he will bring his own style and personality to the job, saying the team will play "fast."
Both in tempo and in work ethic.
"I'm not Coach McCollum," he said. "My personality and play style and all of that stuff is absolutely going to come through, and we'll embrace that."
"'Fast' is, faithful, assertive, selfless and tough. We feel like when things are going well, those things are in a line. If something is off, we can usually find one of the four that we need to go and fix."
Keeley calls Northwest a "no-brainer" job and it's easy to see why. The culture, the trophies, the history, the fan support, the MIAA. It's all there.
But, Keeley was sure to emphasize the value he sees in the community of Maryville. Eerily similar in size and geography to he and his wife Jana's hometown of Great Bend, Kansas.
"We're high school sweethearts from out there. She lived on the west side of town, and I lived on the east side. Ten minutes and three stoplights away. So, the community felt awesome."
Other news and notes
- Keeley says Northwest assistant Jaran Richman will remain on staff. This comes after assistant coach Xavier Kurth followed McCollum to Drake.
- Peterson was sure to thank his "search committee," which included assistant A.D. for media relations Colin McDonough, head strength and conditioning coach Joe Quinlin, Mel Tjeerdsma and Northwest Foundation Board member Seann O'Reily.
- Keeley met with each team member individually last Tuesday. He said his biggest challenge in the short term will be to "get the roster to where we want it to be," noting the list of players they're tying to recruit is "not short."
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