Jimmie Keeling
Head Coach
While a handful of coaches have left Hardin-Simmons
University since 1990 to continue their careers at larger
institutions, Jimmie Keeling has definitely made himself a home
on The Forty Acres. Keeling has been at the helm of the Cowboys'
program since the revival of football in 1990. After eight
seasons, Keeling has posted a 60-27 record, including four
conference championships, three coach of the year awards and 10
NAIA Division II playoff appearances.
Last year he became the school's all-time wins leaders, surpassing the late Warren Woodson. When Keeling's team take the field against Chapman Sept. 19, it will mark his 89th game -- the most ever by a HSU coach. Last year's 7-3 record marked the sixth-straight winning season for Keeling (52-16 over that period. Only Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville have won more games since 1992.
He started his collegiate career at Tarleton State University, then a junior college, and finished his undergraduate work at Howard Payne University in 1958. His first coaching job came in 1959 as the head coach and athletic director at Dublin. Later came stops in Tulia and Elgin. In 1968, Keeling enjoyed perhaps his finest hour as a high school coach when his Lubbock Estacado squad went 14-0 and claimed the Class 4A State Championship. Two years later, he helped Andrews to the Class 4A quarterfinals. In 1978, he led Lamar Consolidated to a regional championship.
That success continued in 1979 when Keeling became the head coach at San Angelo Central, where he remained for 10 seasons. His Bobcats advanced all the way to the Class 5A regional championships in 1982, and in 1988, reached the state quarterfinals. Prior to coming to HSU, Keeling was head coach at John Tyler High School in Tyler, Texas. In 1995, Keeling was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor, posting a 196-91-11 record as a high school coach.
Keeling took over a fledgling football program at Hardin-Simmons in 1990. The Cowboys went 3-6 during his first year but challenged for the TIAA championship the following season with a 5-5 record. Keeling guided the next five teams to the playoffs, including a NAIA Division II semifinal game in 1993.
Keeling succeeded Dr. Merlin Morrow as athletic director in 1995, but only held the position for two years. (top of page)
Coming off a season which, for the first time since 1992 didn't produce at least a share of the Conference Championship, the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys enter the 1998 season high on experience and taking care of some unfinished business.
History will show that the 1997 team went 7-3, an enviable mark to many football programs. But at 2-3 against conference opponents, HSU was left out of the American Southwest Conference championship race -- something 27 seniors and 58 returning letterman will do their best to change in 1998.
Of the returning veterans, nine offensive and five defensive starters return. Offensively, holes at slotback and tight end must be filled. Defensively, there are three times the vacancies. Both starting defensive ends and a defensive tackle are gone from last years squad, as is the Cowboys' middle linebacker, cornerback and free safety.
But Hardin-Simmons saw lots of potential from its back-up players last season, many who played their way into full time roles, which has given the coaching staff plenty to be optimistic about for the upcoming season.
Last year, the Cowboys had four first-time opponents. This season there are only two. On Oct. 31, the Cowboys host Texas Lutheran University, which is bringing back football after a decade hiatus. The following week, Nov. 7, Hardin-Simmons travels to Belton, Texas to face first-year program, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Hardin-Simmons has been picked to win the ASC by Dave Campbell's 1998 Texas Football Magazine, and selected third behind Mississippi College and Howard Payne in a poll of American Southwest Conference coaches, athletics directors and sports information directors. (top of page)
RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL ALL GAMES........... (9-1-0) (5-0-0) (4-1-0) (0-0-0) CONFERENCE.......... (7-0-0) (4-0-0) (3-0-0) (0-0-0) NON-CONFERENCE...... (2-1-0) (1-0-0) (1-1-0) (0-0-0) DATE OPPONENT W/L SCORE ATTEND ------------ -------------------- --- ----- ------ Sep 12, 1998 at Midwestern State L 23-34 - Sep 19, 1998 at Chapman (Calif.) W 48-19 - Sep 26, 1998 AZUZA PACIFIC W 30-17 - *Oct 3, 1998 at Sul Ross State W 34-7 - *Oct 10, 1998 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE W 44-0 - *Oct 17, 1998 at Austin College W 66-27 617 *Oct 24, 1998 HOWARD PAYNE W 35-25 - *Oct 31, 1998 TEXAS LUTHERAN W 83-6 - *Nov 7, 1998 at Mary Hardin-Baylor W 56-9 - *Nov 14, 1998 MCMURRY UNIVERSITY W OT 30-24 - * Denotes ASC game |
1997 Results (7-3,2-3) ----------------------------------------------- 9/13/97 at Azusa Pacific....... 28-21 9/20/97 at Sul Ross State...... 35-14 9/27/97 CHAPMAN................ 19-14 10/4/97 WESTERN NEW MEXICO..... 33-29 10/11/97 at Langston............ 41-0 10/18/97 MCMURRY................ 34-25 10/25/97 at Howard Payne........ 12-30 11/1/97 AUSTIN COLLEGE......... 35-13 11/8/97 at Mississippi College. 14-17 11/15/97 SUL ROSS STATE......... 21-27 |
1998 Team StatisticsTEAM STATISTICS HSU OPP -------------------------------------------------------- SCORING....................... 449 168 Points Per Game............. 44.9 16.8 FIRST DOWNS................... 229 140 Rushing..................... 94 53 Passing..................... 115 67 Penalty..................... 20 20 RUSHING YARDAGE............... 2049 737 Yards gained rushing........ 2299 1207 Yards lost rushing.......... 250 470 Rushing Attempts............ 410 353 Average Per Rush............ 5.0 2.1 Average Per Game............ 204.9 73.7 TDs Rushing................. 26 11 PASSING YARDAGE............... 3149 1874 Att-Comp-Int................ 359-205-9 297-128-19 Average Per Pass............ 8.8 6.3 Average Per Catch........... 15.4 14.6 Average Per Game............ 314.9 187.4 TDs Passing................. 29 10 TOTAL OFFENSE................. 5198 2611 Total Plays................. 769 650 Average Per Play............ 6.8 4.0 Average Per Game............ 519.8 261.1 KICKOFF RETURNS: #-YARDS...... 23-456 45-600 PUNT RETURNS: #-YARDS......... 40-304 18-144 INT RETURNS: #-YARDS.......... 19-239 9-172 KICKOFF RETURN AVERAGE........ 19.8 13.3 PUNT RETURN AVERAGE........... 7.6 8.0 INT RETURN AVERAGE............ 12.6 19.1 FUMBLES-LOST.................. 19-11 22-9 PENALTIES-YARDS............... 108-1009 79-697 Average Per Game............ 100.9 69.7 PUNTS-YARDS................... 40-1491 80-2922 Average Per Punt............ 37.3 36.5 Net punt average............ 33.7 32.7 TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME....... 32:31 27:29 3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 71/158 41/151 3rd-Down Pct................ 45% 27% 4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 8/19 2/18 4th-Down Pct................ 42% 11% SACKS BY-YARDS................ 26-213 16-97 MISC YARDS.................... 8 67 TOUCHDOWNS SCORED............. 60 23 FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS.......... 10-13 3-5 PAT KICKS-ATTEMPTS............ 53-58 17-19 ATTENDANCE.................... 0 617 Games/Avg Per Game.......... 5/0 5/123 BY QUARTER 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total ------------ --- --- --- --- --- --- Team........ 100 147 117 79 6 - 449 Opponents... 66 12 26 64 0 - 168 |
RUSHING G Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/G
------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Baca 7 80 518 26 492 6.2 6 51 70.3
Tim Pharo 10 77 451 24 427 5.5 5 71 42.7
Cameron Creager 9 98 386 17 369 3.8 7 34 41.0
Bill Poe 10 60 299 106 193 3.2 1 32 19.3
Jared Wood 6 19 181 0 181 9.5 2 40 30.2
Paxton Hurst 5 17 176 5 171 10.1 3 20 34.2
Jackie Warren 10 6 142 6 136 22.7 1 72 13.6
Samuel Johnson 7 22 61 13 48 2.2 0 13 6.9
Patrick Berg 2 7 26 4 22 3.1 0 8 11.0
Mitch Ables 10 1 10 0 10 10.0 0 10 1.0
Todd Yeager 2 2 3 0 3 1.5 0 2 1.5
Jeff Whitehead 1 2 2 0 2 1.0 0 1 2.0
Charles Liles 3 1 1 0 1 1.0 0 1 0.3
Ryan Jacobs 10 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0
Aaron Birdwell 3 4 4 5 -1 -0.3 0 4 -0.3
Brad Boyd 9 12 39 41 -2 -0.2 1 19 -0.2
Richard Simpson 5 1 0 3 -3 -3.0 0 0 -0.6
Total.......... 10 410 2299 250 2049 5.0 26 72 204.9
Opponents...... 10 353 1207 470 737 2.1 11 38 73.7
PASSING G Effic Att-Cmp-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/G
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Poe 10 163.35 267-161-7 60.3 2460 25 79 246.0
Brad Boyd 9 125.65 79-40-2 50.6 596 4 86 66.2
Aaron Birdwell 3 107.38 11-4-0 36.4 93 0 46 31.0
Todd Yeager 2 0.00 2-0-0 0.0 0 0 0 0.0
Total.......... 10 152.43 359-205-9 57.1 3149 29 86 314.9
Opponents...... 10 94.42 297-128-19 43.1 1874 10 79 187.4
RECEIVING G No. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/G
--------------------------------------------------
Chance Sampson 10 45 575 12.8 7 34 57.5
Barry Donham 10 40 449 11.2 2 79 44.9
Mitch Ables 10 36 773 21.5 10 63 77.3
Jackie Warren 10 28 457 16.3 3 69 45.7
StewartChalmers 9 19 292 15.4 2 56 32.4
Kirk Rogers 7 12 242 20.2 2 86 34.6
Cameron Creager 9 5 76 15.2 1 57 8.4
Matt Hamilton 4 4 100 25.0 0 46 25.0
Ryan Reynolds 6 3 47 15.7 0 21 7.8
Charles Liles 3 3 24 8.0 0 16 8.0
Samuel Johnson 7 3 4 1.3 0 2 0.6
Patrick Baca 7 2 54 27.0 1 44 7.7
Josh Small 3 2 18 9.0 0 14 6.0
Tim Pharo 10 1 21 21.0 0 21 2.1
Jared Wood 6 1 9 9.0 1 9 1.5
Richard Simpson 5 1 8 8.0 0 8 1.6
Total.......... 10 205 3149 15.4 31 86 314.9
Opponents...... 10 128 1874 14.6 10 79 187.4
PUNT RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD Long
---------------------------------------
Barry Donham 18 171 9.5 1 42
Richard Simpson 11 93 8.5 0 20
Ryan Reynolds 7 25 3.6 0 10
Roque Vela 3 0 0.0 0 13
Dustin Kiser 1 15 15.0 0 15
Total.......... 40 304 7.6 1 42
Opponents...... 18 144 8.0 0 45
INTERCEPTIONS No. Yds Avg TD Long
---------------------------------------
David Rausch 7 147 21.0 2 55
RossBlackwelder 3 33 11.0 0 23
Roque Vela 3 14 4.7 0 14
HectorMontenegr 1 1 1.0 0 1
Dustin Kiser 1 8 8.0 0 8
Scott Mitchell 1 12 12.0 0 12
Jon Loudermilk 1 10 10.0 1 10
Gordon Smith 1 0 0.0 0 0
Ryan Jacobs 1 14 14.0 0 14
Total.......... 19 239 12.6 3 55
Opponents...... 9 172 19.1 1 62
KICK RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD Long
---------------------------------------
Jackie Warren 7 112 16.0 0 25
Richard Simpson 5 166 33.2 0 28
Paxton Hurst 3 38 12.7 0 19
Andy Howard 2 22 11.0 0 13
Lee Vallejo 2 45 22.5 0 26
Vallejo 1 0 0.0 0 0
Barry Donham 1 41 41.0 0 41
Kelly Cook 1 12 12.0 0 12
Jared Wood 1 20 20.0 0 20
Total.......... 23 456 19.8 0 41
Opponents...... 45 600 13.3 0 36
FUMBLE RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD Long
---------------------------------------
Jacob Freeman 1 8 8.0 1 8
Roque Vela 1 0 0.0 0 0
Total.......... 2 8 4.0 1 8
Opponents...... 2 67 33.5 1 65
TOTAL OFFENSE G Plays Rush Pass Total Avg/G
----------------------------------------------
Bill Poe 10 327 193 2460 2653 265.3
Brad Boyd 9 91 -2 596 594 66.0
Patrick Baca 7 80 492 0 492 70.3
Tim Pharo 10 77 427 0 427 42.7
Cameron Creager 9 98 369 0 369 41.0
Jared Wood 6 19 181 0 181 30.2
Paxton Hurst 5 17 171 0 171 34.2
Jackie Warren 10 6 136 0 136 13.6
Aaron Birdwell 3 15 -1 93 92 30.7
Samuel Johnson 7 22 48 0 48 6.9
Patrick Berg 2 7 22 0 22 11.0
Mitch Ables 10 1 10 0 10 1.0
Todd Yeager 2 4 3 0 3 1.5
Jeff Whitehead 1 2 2 0 2 2.0
Charles Liles 3 1 1 0 1 0.3
Richard Simpson 5 1 -3 0 -3 -0.6
Total.......... 10 769 2049 3149 5198 519.8
Opponents...... 10 650 737 1874 2611 261.1
|------ PATs ------|
SCORING TD FGs Kick Rush Rcv Pass DXP Saf - Pts
------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Smith 0 10-13 53-58 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 83
Mitch Ables 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 60
Cameron Creager 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 48
Patrick Baca 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 42
Chance Sampson 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 42
Tim Pharo 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 30
Jackie Warren 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 24
Paxton Hurst 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 18
Barry Donham 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 18
Jared Wood 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 18
Kirk Rogers 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 12
David Rausch 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 12
StewartChalmers 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 12
Bill Poe 1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0-0 0 0 - 8
Jacob Freeman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 6
Brad Boyd 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 6
Jon Loudermilk 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 - 6
Samuel Johnson 0 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0-0 0 0 - 2
Team 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 - 2
Total.......... 60 10-13 53-58 2-2 0 0-0 0 1 - 449
Opponents...... 23 3-5 17-19 0-1 1 1-3 0 1 - 168
ALL PURPOSE G Rush Rec PR KOR IR FR Tot Avg/G
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mitch Ables 10 10 773 0 0 0 0 783 78.3
Jackie Warren 10 136 457 0 112 0 0 705 70.5
Barry Donham 10 0 449 171 41 0 0 661 66.1
Chance Sampson 10 0 575 0 0 0 0 575 57.5
Patrick Baca 7 492 54 0 0 0 0 546 78.0
Tim Pharo 10 427 21 0 0 0 0 448 44.8
Cameron Creager 9 369 76 0 0 0 0 445 49.4
StewartChalmers 9 0 292 0 0 0 0 292 32.4
Richard Simpson 5 -3 8 93 166 0 0 264 52.8
Kirk Rogers 7 0 242 0 0 0 0 242 34.6
Jared Wood 6 181 9 0 20 0 0 210 35.0
Paxton Hurst 5 171 0 0 38 0 0 209 41.8
Bill Poe 10 193 0 0 0 0 0 193 19.3
David Rausch 10 0 0 0 0 147 0 147 14.7
Matt Hamilton 4 0 100 0 0 0 0 100 25.0
Ryan Reynolds 6 0 47 25 0 0 0 72 12.0
Samuel Johnson 7 48 4 0 0 0 0 52 7.4
Lee Vallejo 1 0 0 0 45 0 0 45 45.0
RossBlackwelder 8 0 0 0 0 33 0 33 4.1
Charles Liles 3 1 24 0 0 0 0 25 8.3
Dustin Kiser 10 0 0 15 0 8 0 23 2.3
Patrick Berg 2 22 0 0 0 0 0 22 11.0
Andy Howard 3 0 0 0 22 0 0 22 7.3
Josh Small 3 0 18 0 0 0 0 18 6.0
Roque Vela 10 0 0 0 0 14 0 14 1.4
Ryan Jacobs 10 0 0 0 0 14 0 14 1.4
Kelly Cook 6 0 0 0 12 0 0 12 2.0
Scott Mitchell 4 0 0 0 0 12 0 12 3.0
Jon Loudermilk 8 0 0 0 0 10 0 10 1.3
Jacob Freeman 6 0 0 0 0 0 8 8 1.3
Todd Yeager 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5
Jeff Whitehead 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2.0
HectorMontenegr 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.2
Aaron Birdwell 3 -1 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -0.3
Brad Boyd 9 -2 0 0 0 0 0 -2 -0.2
Total.......... 10 2049 3149 304 456 239 8 6205 620.5
Opponents...... 10 737 1874 144 600 172 67 3594 359.4
FIELD GOALS FGM-FGA Pct 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 Lg Blk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Smith 10-13 76.9 2-2 6-7 2-3 0-1 0-0 33 2
FG SEQUENCE Hardin-Simmons OPPONENTS
----------------------------------------------------
Midwestern State (25),25 29
Chapman (Calif.) 40 -
Azuza Pacific (20) (25),35
Sul Ross State (23),(33) -
Mississippi College (25),(19) -
Austin College (26) -
Howard Payne - (25)
Texas Lutheran (29),(32) -
Mary Hardin-Baylor - -
McMurry University (19),35 (24)
Numbers in (parentheses) indicate field goal was made.
PUNTING No. Yds Avg Long TB FC I20 Blkd
-----------------------------------------------------
Jackie Warren 39 1491 38.2 59 0 0 0 0
Team 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0
Total.......... 40 1491 37.3 59 0 0 0 0
Opponents...... 80 2922 36.5 65 1 0 0 3
(top of page)
|-------Tackles-------| |-Sacks-| |---Pass Def---| |-Fumbles-| Blkd DEFENSIVE LEADERS GP UT AT Total ForLoss No-Yards Int-Yds BrUp QBH Rcv-Yds FF Kick Saf ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Robert Brown 10 60 27 87 12-36 3.0-27 . 1 . . 1 . . 55 Ryan Jacobs 10 43 29 72 10-34 2.0-14 1-14 1 . 1-0 . . . 59 Dustin Kiser 10 45 18 63 18-96 8.0-72 1-8 3 . 1-0 1 . . 67 Kurt Evans 10 28 16 44 7-25 1.0-5 . 1 . . . 1 . 39 David Rausch 10 24 17 41 . . 7-147 5 . . . . . 13 Roque Vela 10 24 14 38 2-3 . 3-14 2 . 1-0 . 3 . 20 RossBlackwelder 8 28 8 36 1-2 . 3-33 9 . . . . . 96 Link Harris 10 19 15 34 11-46 4.5-42 . . . 2-0 1 . . 94 Jared Sanderson 9 17 12 29 5-14 . . . . . 1 . . 51 Seth Denbow 7 8 19 27 2-2 0.5-4 . . . . . . . 49 Johnny Golden 7 14 13 27 5-7 1.0-13 . . . . . . . 3 Corbett Boone 7 20 7 27 1-8 . . 1 . . . . . 9 Jon Loudermilk 8 15 8 23 2-12 2.0-12 1-10 . . . . . . 24 Gordon Smith 7 13 3 16 1-4 . 1-0 2 . . . . . 41 Ryan Rylander 6 8 7 15 . . . . . . . . . 95 Jacob Freeman 6 8 6 14 1-4 0.5-17 . . . 2-8 . . . 91 Jeremy Pearcy 6 6 7 13 2-13 1.0-12 . 1 . . . . . 40 Jason Morrison 6 7 4 11 1-2 1.0-7 . . . 1-0 1 . . 27 Chad Chacchia 9 9 2 11 . . . 1 . . . . . 48 Kelly Cook 6 6 4 10 . . . . . . . . . 50 Casey Thompson 5 5 5 10 1-2 0.5-3 . . . . . . . 91 Nathaniel Davis 5 8 . 8 1-1 . . . . . . . . 1G Jack Graves 7 5 3 8 . . . . . . . . . 1F Toby Thomason 5 4 2 6 . . . 1 . . . . . 43 Landon Neal 5 5 1 6 1-3 . . 1 . . . . . 36 HectorMontenegr 5 5 1 6 . . 1-1 . . . . . . 1H David Wooley 3 4 1 5 . . . . . . . . . 93 Ken Thibodeaux 3 4 . 4 . 1.0-6 . . . . . . . 98 Mark Biddy 4 3 1 4 1-2 . . . . . . . . 29 Scott Mitchell 4 1 2 3 . . 1-12 . . . . . . 97 Josh Small 3 2 1 3 2-5 1.0-3 . . . . . . . 28 Andy Howard 3 1 2 3 . . . . . . . . . TM Team 6 3 . 3 2-10 . . . . 1-0 . . 1 15 Brad Langley 2 1 2 3 . . . 1 . . . . . 90 Todd Adams 1 . 3 3 . . . . . . . . . 8 Nathan Tandberg 3 . 2 2 . . . . . . . . . 6 Jared Wood 6 . 2 2 . . . . . . . . . 31 Josh Furlow 2 2 . 2 . . . . . . . . . 88 Chance Sampson 10 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . . 44 StewartChalmers 9 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . . 16 Bill Poe 10 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . . 82 Jackie Warren 10 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . . 18 Aaron Birdwell 3 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . . 87 Jeff Pevehouse 1 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . . 21 Mark Muhr 2 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . . Total.......... 10 459 267 726 89-331 27.0-237 19-239 30 . 9-8 5 4 1 Opponents...... 10 - - - - 16.5-116 9-172 28 . 11-67 1 2 1 (top of page)
