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Photo Gallery of Kerry Keating's introductory press conference

April 9, 2007

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University introduced Kerry Keating as the head men's basketball coach at Santa Clara University on Monday. Keating comes to Santa Clara after serving for four seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA, helping the Bruins to Final Four appearances in 2006 and 2007. At 35, Keating becomes the youngest head coach in the West Coast Conference.

"Kerry Keating is the right person at the right time for Santa Clara, without a question" said Director of Athletics and Recreation Dan Coonan. "He will build upon the wonderful success that Dick Davey and his staff had this past season, and he will bring us to new heights. Kerry embodies so much of what we were looking for in a new coach. First of all, he has integrity in spades. His recruiting ability is probably the most prominent aspect of his resume, we were looking for someone who was a lights-out recruiter who did it the right way, and that's absolutely what we have found in Kerry."

Keating, who replaces Dick Davey, will be the 14th head coach in the 100-year history of Santa Clara men's basketball, and will lead the Broncos into their second century of hoops beginning with the 2007-08 season. He is also only the fifth SCU head coach since Bob Feerick took the reigns of the program in 1950. Since that time, Feerick (1950-62), Dick Garibaldi (1962-70), Carroll Williams (1970-92), and Davey (1992-2007) have served in that role at Santa Clara.

"I was really impressed with Santa Clara's determination to find the right person, and I promise that I will do everything I can to make sure they are right, because I am ready to give back, and give back now at this point to Santa Clara," said Keating. "There is an illustrious history here that I am proud to be a part of. There is a commitment here that I am now the caretaker of to continue a tradition of success. It is a great foundation here and it's one of the greatest foundations in college basketball."

Keating has made a name for himself as one of the top recruiters in the nation as well as one of the most technologically innovative assistant coaches in college basketball. He recently completed his fourth season as a UCLA assistant coach under Ben Howland, helping lead the Bruins to back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2006 and 2007. While an assistant coach at UCLA, Keating helped lead the Bruins to three NCAA Tournament appearances and a 91-41 record. He also played a pivotal role in bringing All-Pac-10 point guard, Darren Collison, to UCLA, along with helping develop former UCLA Bruin and current Los Angeles Laker, Jordan Farmar.

In 2005, Rivals.com tapped Keating as one of the nation'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 has been featured in recent 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 (Rivals.com) incoming freshman class in 2004 and the No. 13 (Scout.com) recruiting class in 2005.

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 head coach at Coastal Carolina, 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 Chicago Bull 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.

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.

Quote Sheet From Press Conference

Santa Clara Head Coach Kerry Keating

On recruiting: "We are selling a wonderful education here at Santa Clara. That is similar to what we sold at UCLA. We are also selling a work ethic on our staff that is second to none. There are a lot great things to sell here, beautiful campus, great arena, great student base, great alumni base. Also, there is a rich tradition here."

On goals: "We want to set goals for our team that the kids will benefit from. They will be able to take their experiences here at Santa Clara and use them to succeed in life. That is a big part of what the mission is here at Santa Clara and I want to make sure that it is the mission for our team also."

On winning: "It is all about winning. You have to do everything that you can to win. We might not win every game that we play, but we are going to win in practice and win by going to class, going to study hall and doing community service. This team will put the effort in every day."

Junior forward Mitch Henke

On new coaching staff: "I think we may get a more diverse group of players since the new coaching staff has some East Coast ties. However, I think that the basic principles will probably stay the same, defense and hard work. Those are the principles that Santa Clara has been built on."

On new coaching staff: "We found out late last week about the new staff and everyone is excited to have the process completed. We loved our old coaching staff and we are sad to see them go, but everyone is happy with the guys that are coming in. We are excited to play for them and ready to get started."

What They Are Saying About Kerry Keating:

Santa Clara University Director of Athletics and Recreation Dan Coonan: "We are absolutely thrilled to be able to announce Kerry Keating as our head basketball coach. He has earned a tremendous reputation for himself within the industry as a phenomenal recruiter, a tireless worker and a person of solid character. He embraces Santa Clara's academic mission and he has the type of leadership and mentorship skills to be phenomenally successful in this role. He will also develop wonderful relationships with all of the Santa Clara family. He is the right person at the right time to build upon the great success that Dick Davey and his staff achieved this past season."

Santa Clara President Paul Locatelli, S.J.: "I am very pleased with Dan Coonan's selection of Kerry Keating as Santa Clara's men's basketball coach. Kerry is a highly regarded recruiter, coach, and motivator, and has experience at the top level of Division I basketball representing outstanding academic institutions. He has strong ties to high school and AAU coaches in California and nationally and is loved and respected by his players; I know the Santa Clara community will welcome him as a man of integrity who knows and appreciates the educational mission of Santa Clara as a Catholic, Jesuit university."

UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland: "Kerry Keating is an outstanding coach with a proven track record in recruiting quality student-athletes, developing players and game preparation. He has an outstanding reputation in the coaching community and has been an ideal role model for our players at UCLA. Santa Clara has a great history and athletic tradition and I'm confident that he will handle himself in the same first class manner that he has here and will uphold the high standards that Santa Clara has built both on the court and in the classroom."

UCLA All-American Arron Afflalo: "Kerry Keating is going to be a great head coach. He is a player's coach and can relate well to players, making them feel comfortable around him. I think he is a great motivator and he'll be able to get his players to play hard for him, which is what you want. He's also a great recruiter and evaluator of talent."

UCLA Athletic Director Daniel Guerrero: "Kerry played a significant part of our men's basketball success during his tenure in Westwood. I can think of no one better to follow the footsteps of two coaches, Carroll Williams and Dick Davey, whom I have respected and admired over the years. Kerry will embrace the Santa Clara tradition established by these coaches and others, while blazing a new trail for Bronco men's basketball excellence".

UCLA Faculty Athletics Representative Don Morrison: "Kerry is one of the smartest, hardest working people I have known in my forty plus years as an academic at Columbia and UCLA. Kerry is a great judge of talent and he wants to build a program the right way with quality young men who are true student athletes. Along with those qualities, he is a person of the utmost integrity."

Mark Shoff, Head Coach at Lake Oswego High School: "I am very happy and excited for him. Santa Clara has made an excellent choice. I was very impressed with how he presented himself when he was recruiting Kevin Love. With Kerry there is a sense of warmth and honesty that I really appreciated. He has a great personality and he is an excellent recruiter along with being a very good basketball coach."

UCLA All-Pac-10 guard Darren Collison: "You could tell by the way he handled himself when preparing us for a scout that he was going to be a head coach someday. He deserves this opportunity because he has prepared himself for it by the way he has recruited players to UCLA and by the way he has prepared us during his scouts to win games. I couldn't be more proud of him and I thank him for bringing me to UCLA."

About Santa Clara University Athletics
Santa Clara University Department of Athletics and Recreation sponsors 19 intercollegiate athletics teams and competes as a Division I member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the West Coast Conference (WCC), the Pacific Coast Softball Conference and the Western Water Polo Association. The department is enjoying a successful 2006-2007 season. Both the men's and women's soccer teams captured the WCC championship, while the men's basketball team won 21 games. Santa Clara's four-year student-athlete average graduation rate of 74 percent is tied for first in the WCC and second on the West Coast.

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,377 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.