MIKE
KEEHN
Assistant Baseball Coach
(256) 765-4635
In nineteen
seasons as an assistant coach with the
Lions’ baseball team, Mike Keehn has been an
instrumental part of North Alabama’s
tremendous success, first as a student
assistant and then as a full-time assistant
coach.
In addition to
developing the University Field infield into
one of the best playing surfaces in the
country, Keehn has played a major role in
helping the Lions sign some of the top
players in college baseball.
Keehn has also
handled several of the Lions’ fund-raising
efforts. With a wealth of playing and
coaching experience, Keehn has helped lead
UNA to a combined 691-297-7 record over the
last nineteen seasons, while working with
the Lion infielders and hitters. During
those 19 years UNA has won four Gulf South
Conference baseball titles and made seven
NCAA Tournament appearances.
In 1999 he
helped direct a UNA team that went 45-12,
won the Gulf South Conference and NCAA
Division II South Central Regional
championships and advanced to the Division
II Baseball Championship in Montgomery, Ala.
An infielder at
Kearney State College (now the University of
Nebraska-Kearney), where he earned honorable
mention All-America honors, Keehn was
drafted and signed by the Texas Rangers
organization.
After a stint
in the minor leagues, he went to coach at
Kansas City, Kan., Community College from
1985-88.
He helped
direct KCKCC to a 120-36 record over those
three seasons with two Jayhawk Conference
championships and two district runner-up
finishes.
In 1988 he came
to North Alabama and in his first season
with the Lions he was a part of his third
straight championship team as UNA went 44-11
and won the Gulf South Conference crown. The
Lions then advanced to the NCAA regionals
for the fourth time in six years. In 1990
the Lions went 37-11 and won the GSC West
Division and followed with a 30-17 mark in
1991 and an NCAA South Atlantic Regional
berth. UNA made its second straight NCAA
appearance with a 33-19-1 finish in 1992 and
followed with a third straight appearance, a
third Gulf South Conference championship,
and a 39-18 record in 1993. In 1994, UNA
went 35-11-2 and won the GSC East Division.
In 1995 UNA was 43-15, won the GSC East
Division and advanced to the championship
game of the NCAA Division II South Central
Regional. In 1996 the Lions finished with a
37-11 record, and in 1997 UNA was 40-15-1,
won its third GSC title since Keehn's
arrival and made the ninth NCAA tournament
appearance in school history.
In 1998 UNA was
38-12 and the Lions followed with a 45-12
record in 1999, 36-16-1 in 2000, 30-18 in
2001, 37-16 in 2002, 35-15 in 2003, 34-20-1
in 2004, 39-19 in 2005, 38-20 in 2006 and
32-21-1 last season.
Keehn received
his B.A. in education with a double major in
Physical Education and Business from Kearney
State and earned his Master’s in Education
from UNA in July of 1990. He and his wife
Lisa have two daughters, Jessica and Erica,
and a son, Austin.
Matt
Hancock
Graduate Assistant
Matt Hancock is
in his third season as a member of the UNA
baseball coaching staff and his second as a
graduate assistant coach.
Hancock was a
four-year letterman for the Lions from
2002-05 and posted a 20-5 career record on
the mound at UNA. He was 6-0 as a freshman,
5-0 as a sophomore, 2-2 as a junior and 7-3
as a senior.
Hancock pitched
206.6 innings in 58 career appearances for
the Lions, striking out 128 batters while
walking just 46. As a senior, Hancock
helped UNA to a Gulf South Conference East
Division title that included 16 straight
league wins and a 39-19 overall record. U
UNA advanced to
the championship game of the GSC
Tournament. Hancock served the Lions as a
student assistant coach in 2006 as UNA went
38-20, and he was a graduate assistant last
season.
