Coach Keeling in his "Office"

From his days as assistant coach at Hamilton High School to Hardin-Simmons University, Jimmie Keeling has coached a lot of football. Saturday, the 19-year HSU head coach will reach a rare milestone in the sport; he'll coach his 500th career game. In all, Keeling has a career record of 351-137-11 in 50 seasons.

When Hardin-Simmons went looking for a coach to revive its program after a 27-year hiatus, it didn't take long to find their man. Keeling's successes at the high school level and his ability to build a program from the ground up were key in his selection. "Dr. (Merlin) Morrow and HSU President Dr. (Jesse) Fletcher were so supportive and made it a lot easier on me because they were so extremely helpful," said Keeling. "I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, we were hired in January and had to have a team by August."

That HSU won any games that first year was a tribute to Keeling and his staff, "We won three games our first season and made it to the national semifinals by 1993." It didn't take long for the Cowboys to become a dominant force in the conference. Coach Keeling's teams won 11 conference titles from 1993 to 2004 and have a 155-46 record.

His players have not only had great success on the field, but have become better people off of it. "We have guys that have become doctors, lawyers, ministers, veterinarians, Navy Seals, Army Rangers, dentists, police officers and all walks of life," said Keeling. "We also have over 120 guys that are in coaching at the collegiate and high school levels. Darren Allman, who was one of our first recruits, is the head coach at Odessa Permian, we have several other head coaches, and Will Wagner is the assistant head coach at Northwest Missouri State. It is a thrill to me to have kids come here from all different backgrounds and for them to do well in life. That is probably the highlight for me."

Keeling credits much of his success to some of the biggest coaching names in Texas history. "Gordon Wood (Brownwood) helped me a lot, and Gene Mayfield (Permian and West Texas) was another very successful coach who helped me. Coach Darryl Royal was a great teacher. I spent many days watching his teams work out and trying to pick up things from him. He was so open. Basically, anyone that was doing something good that we liked, we tried to borrow it. When we took it home, we kept it and called it our own."

Keeling has very specific advice to young coaches.
Marry well. "You have to have a family that is very supportive and I have the absolute best at that. A coach's wife has to be there to be supportive of what you are doing and they have to basically raise a family alone for a lot of the time. I am so grateful to have Susan and that she was so involved in what I have done over the years.

"Be ready to work really hard and love it or don't do it. It is very time consuming and if you are going to do it, you better be ready to work. One of our big things is 'They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.' If you are going to coach you better really care about the kids, because if you don't they figure it out in a hurry. Be ready to discipline 100 percent and love them. You have to help them grow up, mature, and become something special."

The question Keeling gets a lot at age 73 is how much longer he'll coach, and the answer is pretty much the same every time.

"I don't have any intention on doing anything else," said Keeling. "As long as I still love waking up in the morning and coming here and doing what I do, I don't ever feel like I am going to work. I get to do something I love and enjoy.

"My prayer daily is 'God if I am to do this, let me help the players I am working with and let me help the coaches I am working with and let me be an influence on them.' When I can't live up to that, then I guess it will be time." Evidence that he's still making a difference came in 2004 when the Fellowship of Christian Athletes selected Keeling for the Grant Teaff Lifetime Achievement Award.

Winning isn't everything, but it is important, "I love to win games. I don't know how guys do it a long time and don't win. I think winning is important thing for the kids to learn. If you work hard and pay the price and you have success, that is going to directly relate how you do in your jobs, families, marriages and the rest of your life. That is what I hope that I do, the best job of teaching--not only football, but something for the rest of their life."