James Henry Kehoe, Jr. (June 3, 1918 – January 17, 2010) was an American athletics coach and university administrator. He served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

from 1969 to 1978, during which time he was responsible for the hiring of future Hall of Fame coaches

Lefty Driesell Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell (born December 25, 1931) is a retired American college basketball coach. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools, Driesell led the programs of Davidson College, t ...

Jerry Claiborne Jerry David Claiborne (August 26, 1928 – September 24, 2000) was an American college football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech (1961–1970), the University of Maryland, College Park (1972–1981), and his alma m ...

Bud Beardmore Clayton Albert "Bud" Beardmore (October 26, 1939 – January 20, 2016) was an American lacrosse coach. As head coach at the University of Maryland, Beardmore led the Terrapins to two NCAA tournament championships in 1973 and 1975. He was inducte ...

, and

Chris Weller Chris Weller (born July 12, 1944) is a former University of Maryland, College Park women's basketball coach who led the Lady Terps for 27 seasons from 1975 until 2002. Weller was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Educ ...

Early life and military service

Kehoe was born on June 3, 1918, in

Bel Air, Maryland The town of Bel Air is the county seat of Harford County, Maryland. According to the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 10,661. History Bel Air's identity has gone through several incarnations since 1780. Aquilla Scott, w ...

. In high school, he was a state champion runner. Kehoe enrolled at the

in 1936 and competed in track and field, in which he excelled as a middle-distance runner. He set school records in the

two-mile run The 2 mile (10,560 feet or 3,218.688 metres) is a historic running distance. Like the mile run, it is still contested at some invitational meets due its historical chronology in the United States and United Kingdom. It has been larg ...

and 880-yard run. He graduated from Maryland in 1940. After college, Kehoe joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and served in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Professional career

After the war, he returned to the University of Maryland as its track and cross country coach in 1946. During his tenure, he built the programs into a national powerhouse and won multiple conference championships.Jim Kehoe dies; athletic director made U-Md. a powerhouse
''The Washington Post'', January 31, 2010. When he retired from coaching, his track teams had a 27-meet winning streak and his cross country teams a 29-meet streak. Kehoe's teams had captured 48 cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track championships in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

and

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. In 1969, Kehoe resigned from his coaching positions to take over as the university's

with the task of turning around the struggling football and basketball programs. In his sixth week on the job, Kehoe hired

as the new basketball coach, and said it was "a new era in athletics at the University of Maryland... top drawer, all the way and nothing less." Driesell, after he had promised to make Maryland the "

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

of the East", helped form the basketball program into a perennial NCAA tournament contender. In his first year, he also fired the head football coach, former Maryland star Bob Ward who was embroiled in a player revolt and had compiled a 2–17 record over two years. Kehoe took an unorthodox approach by hiring Roy Lester, a highly successful area high school coach, as Ward's replacement. The plan did not work, however, and after three years and a 7–25 record, Kehoe fired Lester as well. He stated his plans to make Maryland a "nationally ranked caliber team" and that the perennial losing and low attendance would make the athletic department unsustainable.Maryland Fires Head Grid Coach
''The Tuscaloosa News'', December 5, 1971. Kehoe appointed

as Lester's successor, who reversed the team's fortunes and won three consecutive

championships in the 1970s. Kehoe also brought successful non-revenue coaches to Maryland. In men's lacrosse, he hired Bud Beardmore, who won the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

and 1975 NCAA tournament championships. He also hired

as the first Maryland women's basketball coach. Driesell, Claiborne, Beardmore, and Weller have all been inducted into their respective sports Halls of Fame. With the help of his college track teammate Tom Fields as head fundraiser, Kehoe made the Maryland athletic program financially successful as well. Throughout his nine-year tenure, the athletic department recorded a profit each year, primarily through alumni donors and increased attendance rates. As

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

was being debated, Kehoe resisted expansion of the women's athletic programs, arguing that they do not generate any income to support themselves. Kehoe resigned in 1978 after disagreements with university chancellor

Robert Gluckstern The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

. He then took a temporary athletic department post at the

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is a public historically black land-grant research university in Princess Anne, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High r ...

. He briefly returned to the Maryland post as interim athletic director in 1980 before retiring in 1981.Kehoe Comes On At Mount As Consultant
''Gettysburg Times'', January 13, 1989. In 1989, he was hired as a special consultant to the athletic department of

Mount St. Mary's University Mount St. Mary's University (The Mount) is a private Roman Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It includes the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. The undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Arts, ...

, a position in which he remained for one year.

Later life

Kehoe retired to Chesapeake Beach. In 1986, Kehoe was inducted into the

University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1982 by the M Club Foundation to honor student-athletes, coaches, and administrators who made significant contributions to athletics at the University of Maryland, College Park, U ...

. In 1998, he was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The Kehoe Track and Field Complex at the University of Maryland is named in his honor.Kehoe Track at Ludwig Field
, University of Maryland, retrieved June 6, 2010. Kehoe died of

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

on January 17, 2010, at the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House in

Prince Frederick, Maryland Prince Frederick is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prince Frederick was 3,226, up from 2,538 in 2010. It is the county seat of Cal ...

References

External links

James Kehoe collection
at the

University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kehoe, Jim 1918 births 2010 deaths American male middle-distance runners United States Army personnel of World War II American track and field coaches Maryland Terrapins athletic directors Maryland Terrapins track and field coaches People from Bel Air, Maryland United States Army soldiers People from Calvert County, Maryland Maryland Terrapins men's track and field athletes Maryland Terrapins cross country coaches