Kevin Andre Keatts (born July 28, 1972) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He is the current men's head coach at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

Early life and playing career

Keatts grew up as an only child in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

. His father was a masonry instructor at

Amherst County High School Amherst County High School is a hood public high school, grades 9–12, serving Amherst County, Virginia, United States. As the only high school in the county, it offers a comprehensive program from advanced (AP) classes to classes offered through ...

, and Keatts worked as his apprentice on the weekends. He attended Heritage High School and played

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

on their basketball team as well as

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

on their football team. As starting quarterback, Keatts led the football team to be ranked the best in the state, losing only one game his entire career. He played basketball for

Ferrum College , mottoeng = Not Self, But Others , established = , type = Private college , president = David L. Johns , city = Ferrum, Virginia , country = U.S. , c ...

, averaging 13.3 points per game by his senior year.

Coaching career

Keatts began his coaching career as an assistant at Southwestern Michigan College for the 1996–97 season. He then went to

Hargrave Military Academy Hargrave Military Academy (HMA) is a private, all-male, military boarding school located in the town of Chatham, Virginia. Hargrave is affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia emphasizing Christian values that focuses on a col ...

as an assistant coach for two seasons before being promoted to head coach in 1999. In 2001, Keatts moved to

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

as an assistant coach to Greg White. He returned to Hargrave in 2003 and served as the head coach until 2011. During his ten years (over two stints) as the head coach at Hargrave, Keatts had a record of 262–17. In 2011, he earned a degree from

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

. Keatts then joined the staff of

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and was a part of the Cardinals' 2013 NCAA Division I national championship team which was later vacated by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

because of recruiting violations that occurred from December 2010 until June 2014. Citing Keatts' coaching and recruiting prowess, Pitino promoted Keatts to the position of associate head coach in January 2014. On March 27, 2014, he was named the head coach of

UNC Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

(UNCW), succeeding

Buzz Peterson Robert Bower "Buzz" Peterson Jr. (born May 17, 1963) is an American basketball executive who is the assistant general manager for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also coached college basketball, most re ...

. In Keatts' first season at UNCW he was named CAA Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Seahawks to their first conference championship in nine years, and first winning season in seven years. In his second year, Keatts repeated his rookie-year double, once again winning the CAA regular-season championship and Conference Coach of the Year. In winning the 2016 conference coach of the year, he became the first coach in CAA history to ever win the award in consecutive years. On March 17, 2017, Keatts became the 23rd head coach at

, succeeding

Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors Gottfried played one season at Oral Roberts and three se ...

. Keatts is the first Wolfpack head coach to defeat Duke, North Carolina, and Wake Forest in his first attempt since Tal Stafford during the 1918–19 season. After being projected to finish 12th in the ACC, Keatts led what recruits were left from

Wolfpack to a tied-for-third-place finish in the conference, as well as earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

NC State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keatts, Kevin 1972 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Virginia Basketball players from Virginia College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Ferrum Panthers men's basketball players High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Louisville Cardinals men's basketball coaches Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball coaches Marshall University alumni NC State Wolfpack men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Lynchburg, Virginia UNC Wilmington Seahawks men's basketball coaches Guards (basketball)