Ex-CSUN Coach Keele Hired as Assistant at Cal

Tom Keele is on his way from the Big Sky Conference and Weber State in Ogden, Utah, to the Pac-10 Conference and California in Berkeley.

Keele, who coached at Cal State Northridge from 1979 to 1985, will coach the tight ends and assist with the offensive line.

“This is where I want to be,” he said. “There isn’t a better conference anywhere--it has great teams and the Rose Bowl. I’m just tickled pink.”

The move is Keele’s seventh since breaking into the college coaching ranks at San Jose State 20 years ago. He also was an assistant at Hawaii, Washington State and Cal State Long Beach before going to Northridge in 1979 as the head coach. After compiling a 30-43-1 record at CSUN, Keele was fired and moved to Weber State as the inside linebackers coach last season.

Keele, 52, said switching from coaching linebackers to tight ends would present few problems. “This job is right up my alley. Seventeen of my 28 years in coaching have been spent coaching the offensive line and tight ends,” he said. Keele’s only other coaching experience in the Pac-10--at Washington State--was as an offensive line coach.

“He’s an outstanding coach,” said new Cal Coach Bruce Snyder, the former Rams running backs coach who was hired in December. “He’s a fine person. And he’s been around. He has a varied background.”

Not coincidentally, Snyder and Keele have known each other since 1963 when they coached together at Sheldon High in Eugene, Ore. “I’ve known him for a long time,” said Keele, who added that he became interested in the new job after Snyder’s hiring. “But I went through the regular interview process. No one hires anybody because they’re buddies, but, uh, it doesn’t hurt.”

Keele went to Berkeley early in February to interview with Snyder and some of his assistants. He was hired Feb. 24.

“The exciting part of this,” he said, “is being in a big conference and coaching in front of a lot of people. All coaches want to be in the big time. In all my years of coaching, I’ve never lost that.”