When he took over the Hardin-Simmons program in 1990, Jimmie Keeling had just ended a Hall of Fame High School career. Now, 20 years later he has put together an impressive collegiate resume. The legendary coach has now combined to coach 503 games in his over 50 years as a head coach.
Keeling was hired as the head coach to revive Hardin-Simmons' football program after a 37-year absence in 1990. He has put together one of the top Division III programs in the country and HSU is the winningest collegiate team in Texas since 1990. His teams have posted a record of 158-47.
His collegiate resume also includes 10 conference titles, 20 NAIA or NCAA Division III playoff games, six conference coach of the year awards and he ranks sixth among active Division III coaches with a .771 winning percentage. He also ranks seventh in the nation in active wins by a Division III coach.
Last year's 9-2 record marked the program's 17th-straight winning season, which ranks 12th in all divisions of NCAA football. It is the fourth-longest streak in Division III.
In 1997, he became HSU's all-time wins leader, surpassing the late Warren Woodson. When Keeling's team took the field against Chapman on Sept. 19, 1998, it was his 89th game, passing Woodson for the most games ever as an HSU coach.
Keeling graduated from Evant High School in 1953. He started his collegiate career at Tarleton State University, then a junior college, and finished his undergraduate work at Howard Payne in 1958. His first coaching job came soon after, taking the reins as head coach and athletic director at Dublin in 1959.
Later came stops in Tulia and Elgin. In 1968, Keeling enjoyed perhaps his finest hour as a high school coach when his Lubbock Estacado squad went 14-0 and claimed the Class 3A state championship. Two years later, he helped Andrews to the Class 4A quarterfinals. Later, in 1978, he led Lamar Consolidated to a regional championship.
That success continued when Keeling became head coach at San Angelo Central in 1979, and remained there for 10 seasons. His Bobcats advanced all the way to the Class 5A regional championships in 1982 and in 1988, reached the state quarterfinals. Keeling's last high school stop was at John Tyler High School in Tyler for one year.
In 1990, Keeling was chosen to revive the Cowboy program, which hadn't played a football game since 1963. The Cowboys went 3-6 with a team comprised of almost all freshmen the first season. The next year, the Cowboys challenged for the TIAA title in 1991, going 5-5. Keeling guided the next five Cowboys squads to the playoffs, including a NAIA Division II semifinal game against Westminster (Pa.) in 1993.
Keeling succeeded Dr. Merlin Morrow as director of athletics in 1995, a position he held two years. On May 7, 1997, Keeling officially relinquished his post as athletic director so he could focus solely on coaching.
In 1995, Keeling was rewarded for his 30 years of excellence in high-school coaching when he was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor. Keeling posted a career high school record of 196-91-11.
In July of 2003, he received the Head Football Coaching Award by the All-American Football Foundation. In 2004, he was given the Grant Teaff Lifetime Achievement Award by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Keeling, born in San Angelo on Aug. 10, 1935, is a member of the American Football Coaches Association Nominating Committee. He is married to the former Susan Zesch, and the couple has five grown children. Dale, who is the head football coach and athletic director at Everman High School; Judy, who lives in Tyler; Lisa, who lives in Las Vegas; Lana, who lives in Austin and Kelly, who now resides in Graham. He has 14 grandchildren.
Susan, a native of Mason and a graduate of Texas Tech, is a former business teacher and past president of the AFCA Wives Association, she was also honored as the Woman of the Year by the Texas High School Coaches Wives Association
The Keelings are active members of the First
Baptist Church in Abilene.
