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We continue our 2016-17 season preview interview series with new Stephen F. Austin head coach Kyle Keller. Every new head coach has big shoes to fill when stepping into his next job but Coach Keller might need some size 20 hightops, as Brad Underwood went 53-1 in 54 conference games over the past 3 years with the Lumberjacks before leaving for Oklahoma State last March. However, if there is anyone who can handle that kind of pressure, it is a guy who worked for Eddie Sutton/Bill Self/Billy Kennedy. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Keller about winning 1 of the wildest NCAA tourney games ever and taking over a program that has only 1 senior.
You were a student assistant as an undergraduate at Oklahoma State when Eddie Sutton was head coach and Bill Self was 1 of his assistants: what kind of basketball education did you receive from this pair of Hall of Fame coaches? Truth be told I really worked for Leonard Hamilton. I tried to get hired on by Coach Sutton when he replaced Coach Hamilton but it took me 9 years before he finally hired me! I think Leonard has proven that he is 1 of the great people/coaches/recruiters/mentors in the business. Coach Self was pretty young back then but he was wiser than his age and treated me very well. Bill taught me to treat everyone as equals, just as he does today. He had a great feel for the players and he challenged them, which is why his teams win so often.
In the 2004 Final 4 as director of basketball operations at Oklahoma State, Will Bynum made a layup in the final seconds of a 2-PT win by Georgia Tech: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? It was painful: we had actually recruited Will after he transferred so it was a double-edged sword. We had a tragedy with the plane crash a couple of years earlier in 2001 so that Final 4 run gave everyone a little bit of closure. Every loss hurts…but as a coach when you lose 10 people who you are close to, losing a basketball game does not “devastate” you so you cannot compare the 2 things. Every day I dream of getting back to the Final 4 and I hope we get the opportunity because we should have won that game. There are 100 things we could have done differently but you cannot change the past.
In the 2010 Elite 8 as an assistant to Self at Kansas you had a 10-PT loss to VCU: now that you are a head coach in the same state as the former VCU coach, are we going to see Shaka Smart and the Longhorns on your schedule anytime soon? We would be blessed to play anybody in-state who wants to plays us but our schedule is hard enough as it is. I spent some time this summer asking him about what it is like to be a 1st-year head coach and he was very helpful. I admire him and I hope we can compete as well as his teams do.
As an assistant to Billy Kennedy at Texas A&M you did a great job of recruiting the best in-state players but your current roster only has 2 players from Texas: what kind of recruiting philosophy will you have at SFA? We are going to recruit this state because there are too many good players here. You have more pride in where you come from and kids want to come here because of what Danny Kaspar/Brad Underwood have done before me to build a winning culture with a legacy of championships. It is easy to sell the product because our guys want to play with other good players.
In the 2016 NCAA tourney the Aggies had a 4-PT 2-OT win over Northern Iowa: how on earth were you able to overcome a 12-PT deficit with 44 seconds left in regulation? I actually scouted Texas that week but I remember playing Northern Iowa in the same building when I was with Kansas. I told our team about the shot that Ali Farokmanesh made and I said that they believed they could win. I thought that our team last year was good enough to make the Final 4…but in the final minute while sitting on our bench I honestly thought that we had no chance to beat the Panthers. I was just wondering who would join me for breakfast the following morning with a recruit from Spain, especially after getting home at 2AM and feeling distraught. It was the craziest game and most dramatic comeback that I have every been a part of. The most amazing part is that Northern Iowa never quit: instead of just hanging their heads they actually took the lead back in OT. Coach Kennedy told us in a huddle with 15 seconds left that we were going to win.
You were hired in April: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? I told my wife before last season started that it would be our last year in College Station. I am so blessed to be here: football is king in the South and there are not many jobs at schools where the campus is hot for basketball. If I could have picked 1 school and 1 region to be in, this would be the 1. SFA is the perfect place for me and my wife to raise our 2 kids: the people here are great.
Your non-conference schedule includes games against Kentucky/Arkansas/Tulsa: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? They are all going to be hard. It is not fair what I did to our team: there are no baby steps when you start the season by going to Rupp Arena. We only return 18% of our offense and our staff is new so it will not be easy. We are 1 of the youngest teams in college basketball as we only have 2 players who made a meaningful basket last year. We will play the same aggressive man-to-man defense as Coaches Sutton/Self.
Last year the Lumberjacks were top-25 in the nation in both PPG and PPG allowed: which end of the court are you most comfortable at as a coach? We have spent as much time on defense as anything else. The jump shot does not always get off the bus so we have concentrated on defense/rebounding. My lineage is from coaches who win by guarding, and if we can win a title it will be because we are the best defensive team we can be. We will play fast as well.
You only have 1 senior on the roster: do you think this team is built to win now or is it going to be a work in progress? If I did not think that we could win every game we play then I would be doing our guys a disservice. I expect our guys to compete and be right there in March. The character of our kids will hopefully give us a chance when it matters. I like what they are going to become so I will not judge them on where they are now. We will be battle-tested by the time we enter league play.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I expect our team to grow closer because we are all new. If they learn to try hard then I think we can expect the same thing that the teams who came before us had: success. I know there are some really good coaches/talented players in the league but I have not faced them yet.
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