Keeling takes Northeastern basketball job

Rudy Keeling aspires to be a big-time college basketball coach, but the University of Maine’s veteran coach has decided he can’t get there from here.

Keeling took what he believes is the next step toward fulfilling his lofty professional goals Wednesday when he accepted the men’s head coaching job at Northeastern University in Boston.

The 47-year-old Keeling was introduced Wednesday as the Huskies’ new coach. Northeastern, which conducted a national search, also had interviewed former Southern Cal coach Charlie Parker.

Keeling replaces Dave Leitao, who resigned to become an assistant at the University of Connecticut. Leitao led Northeastern to a 22-35 record over two seasons.

After eight years in Orono, Keeling is convinced he had to make a move now to ascend the coaching ranks.

“The people who have moved out of this league [the North Atlantic Conference] and not gotten fired have been the people in Boston,” Keeling said, pointing to former Boston University coaches Rick Pitino and Mike Jarvis, now the head coaches at Kentucky and George Washington, respectively, and former Northeastern coach Jim Calhoun, who is the head coach at UConn.

“You can’t name another guy from our league who moved to a major job that was at any of the schools,” he said. “If I’m ever going to be able to compete at Kentucky on even footing, this is the best place to be for me.”

What is unusual about Keeling’s move is that he is taking another job within the same league. He spent eight seasons at UMaine, guiding the Black Bears to a 106-122 (.465) record. The program’s best season under Keeling was 1993-94, when it posted a school-record 20 wins (20-9) and finished as runner-up in the North Atlantic Conference.

“Rudy impressed everyone involved in the search with the deep level of basketball knowledge and with a mentor’s perspective for the fate of the student-athlete,” said Northeastern athletic director Barry Gallup. “Obviously, he has an intimate view of the conference and a proven record as a recruiter and coach.”

Keeling would not divulge the financial aspects of his contract, which is a five-year deal. However, Keeling said he is now the second highest-paid coach in the league behind Bill Herrion of Drexel. Keeling earned almost $70,000 this year at UMaine and recently had been granted a four-year contract extension by athletic director Sue Tyler.

Tyler said she did everything possible to keep Keeling in Orono.

“We made a very strong effort to keep Rudy,” Tyler said. “When I asked him what it would take to keep him here he said, `I think we’ve made the decision.’ I think he agonized over it.”

Tyler said the process of finding a new head coach is already under way, and that prospective coaches were calling the university Wednesday. She said a search committee will be formed in the coming days in hopes of having a coach on board by the start of school in the fall.

“I really would love to have somebody here on campus when the students get back,” said Tyler, who believes the new coach will be blessed with a talented ballclub.

“I think our program is really poised for success, to Rudy’s credit,” Tyler said. “He’s put us in this spot where we are just about ready to take the next level.”

Keeling cited the difficulty of recruiting effectively at UMaine because of its location and demographics, and the university’s financial constraints on his former program, as other difficulties he encountered in Orono.

“We can do some things [at Northeastern] in terms of recruiting and promoting that Maine wasn’t capable of doing,” Keeling said. “We are a lot closer to our recruiting base.”

In the past two years, UMaine has been unable to sign the state’s best high school players. Andy Bedard went to Boston College, and T.J. Caouette opted for Villanova.

“In Maine, we really didn’t have a recruiting base to fall back on,” Keeling said. “The very good players from Maine went to the Big East. The players who were a step down were few and far between.”

Northeastern’s financial commitment to its men’s hoop program was another important consideration for Keeling.

“The program is funded like a mid-major program,” Keeling said. “At Maine, with the budget constraints and that, you just can’t do it. It’s no fault of theirs, they just couldn’t fund it.”

Keeling said he was somewhat hesitant to give up the quiet, happy life he has lived in Bangor.

“I liked the quality of life,” Keeling said. “I liked the idea of not having to lock my car.”

The hardest part was telling his players about his decision.

“I sat down with some of them this [Wednesday] morning and it was very hard,” Keeling said. “I told them it’s a hard thing for me to do and that I’m gonna miss them, but that they determine their future, not me.”