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Dukes Fail To Snare Doherty, Turn To Keener
Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA)
April 2, 2004
Estimated printed pages: 3

Ex-Dillard Assistant To Coach JMU Squad
By MIKE BARBER

Daily News-Record

After being snubbed by its top choice, James Madison settled on a familiar name.

Dean Keener, a former Dukes assistant under Sherman Dillard, has accepted an offer to become JMU's next basketball coach, athletic director Jeff Bourne said Thursday.

"He's going to take this program where we need it to be, back to being a consistent winner," Bourne said.

Keener, currently a Georgia Tech assistant, took the job Thursday afternoon shortly after former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty turned down a more lucrative offer.

The 38-year-old Keener signed a guaranteed five-year contract with an annual base salary of $160,000 and an additional $35,000 for a television and radio deal, Bourne said. The deal also includes a country-club membership, car and the right to run basketball camps. There are "exemplary performance bonuses" built into the contract that could earn Keener another $200,000 -- but that would take some doing.

Keener would earn $20,000 for an NCAA Tournament appearance, and more money each time he won a game in the national playoffs. Similarly, he could earn $8,000 for an NIT appearance and additional money for advancing in that event.

JMU, which finished 7-21 this season, hasn't been in a postseason game of any kind since Lefty Driesell took the Dukes to the 1994 NCAA Tournament.

Doherty turned down a far more lucrative deal. Bourne said he was offered about $260,000 a year.

"I was very impressed with JMU, their commitment to heighten their basketball program, as well as their overall dedication to academic excellence," Doherty said in a statement Thursday. "… That being said, I feel it's best for my family and me to explore other opportunities."

Bourne said Doherty rejected Madison's offer at noon Thursday. It then took "10 minutes," Bourne said, to finalize the deal by telephone with Keener, who was in San Antonio for the Final Four.

"He was very excited," Bourne said. "Just really enthusiastic about the opportunity to turn around our program."

Keener, whose Yellow Jackets play Oklahoma State in a national semifinal game Saturday, was not available for comment.

The Tallmadge, Ohio, native was a JMU assistant in 1999-2000, Madison's last winning season. After going 20-9 that year, the Dukes strung together four straight losing seasons, leading to Dillard's forced resignation on March 7.

Keener is in his fourth season as an assistant at Georgia Tech. The third-seeded Yellow Jackets beat fourth-seeded Kansas 79-71 in overtime Sunday to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 1990.

Like many assistant coaches, Keener is well-traveled. He worked at a variety of schools before accepting the Madison post -- at Southern Methodist under Mike Dement, Southern Cal under George Raveling, Virginia Tech under Bill Foster and later Bobby Hussey, JMU under Dillard and Georgia Tech under Paul Hewitt.

Keener played on Davidson's 1986 NCAA Tournament team.

Bourne said several factors went into selecting Keener after JMU was rebuffed by Doherty.

"Obviously, the success he had with Georgia Tech this year is a plus," Bourne said. "His background is an excellent fit for JMU. He's been on the JMU campus for a year as a coach.

"He's worked for some great people. I think his ability to teach and coach the game is excellent."

The 42-year-old Doherty was the biggest name remaining in Madison's candidate pool after former Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy accepted the vacancy at Southern Mississippi.

Madison had whittled its list to four candidates, all of whom Bourne said would have been good hires. The other candidates were Clemson assistant Ron Bradley and North Carolina State aide Larry Hunter.

"I think all four finalists would be excellent coaches," Bourne said. "My job is to pick the best one."

Bourne said he was attracted to Doherty largely because of his experience as a head coach.

"If you look at his pedigree and the programs he's been in, they're very, very strong," Bourne said. "I believe he liked the school. We got along extremely well.

"At this point, he feels like he has a couple of other options that for him, down the road, would be a better fit."

Keener will now be charged with turning around a program that is at an all-time low point. JMU had never had back-to-back losing seasons in its history before Dillard presided over four straight losing campaigns from 2000-2004.