Keating Feeling Like a Million

Comparing his new post to hitting the jackpot, Jim Keating was introduced Wednesday as men’s basketball coach at Ventura College.

“If I were asked which I’d like to win, the California lottery or become the head coach at Ventura, I’d say I got what I wanted,” Keating said. “This is what coaches live for.”

Keating, coach at Shasta College the past 10 seasons, was hired Tuesday night to replace Virgil Watson, whose contract was not renewed after last school year.

Keating attended the news conference Wednesday at Ventura accompanied by his wife, Carol, who was celebrating her birthday, and their two children--Katie, 8 and Jimmy, 3.

About 30 faculty and staff members at Ventura attended the conference.

Keating, 41, who had a 200-123 record and won three Golden Valley Conference championships at Shasta, stepped down as coach of the Knights after finishing with a 15-15 record last season. He was reassigned to teach in the school’s physical education department.

Gary Lewis, Shasta’s interim athletic director, said the move was by mutual agreement. At the core, Lewis said, was Keating’s penchant for recruiting players from outside the area and the school’s desire to build a program with more local players.

“We had a change in philosophy about recruiting,” Lewis said. “Jim Keating is a very dynamic coach but our emphasis was changing.”

The coach admitted he uses a lot of out-of-state players to be competitive but tries to blend them with local recruits.

Keating said he favors aggressive play and compared his early coaching style to Bobby Knight of Indiana and his current style to Phil Jackson of the Chicago Bulls. Keating said he doesn’t scream quite as much anymore but remains highly intense about winning.

He likes man-to-man defense with a lot of pressure on the ball and an up-tempo offense. His coaching philosophy, he said, includes rotating players frequently.

“We get up and down the floor,” he said. “We like to get into a transition game.”

Keating called Ventura “the top junior college for basketball in the state, if not the country” and said the decision to pursue the coaching position was easy to make.

Finding players to fill the roster, however, might not be so easy.

In an apparent reaction to Watson’s firing, several Ventura players have transferred or are planning to play elsewhere next season, including three at county rival Moorpark.

But at least one player who is contemplating transferring to a junior college in Kansas, 6-foot-8 center Eddie Miller, said he is still weighing his options.

Miller said Keating looked like a “cool guy” but added he would still rather play for Watson. The former All-City selection at Chatsworth High, who last season averaged 16.2 points in Western State Conference Northern Division games, talked to Keating but remains undecided.

Regardless of whether Miller and others stay at Ventura or leave, Keating already was busy Wednesday, visiting potential recruits in Oxnard. He is scheduled to start at Ventura on Aug. 12 but said he would be in town sooner than that, searching for talent.

“Academic accountability is obviously the most important [aspect] when a kid steps on the campus,” Keating said. “It’s important to graduate athletes. We shouldn’t mislead them that basketball will carry them through.”

Keating said he wasn’t concerned about taking over a program shrouded in controversy.

“I will not be a copycat. I am Jim Keating,” he said.

Watson’s dismissal, effective when the school year ended, was opposed by many on campus and throughout the community.

Watson, who coached the Pirates for two seasons and guided them to the state title in 1996, was fired primarily for allegedly being a poor teacher.

He is appealing through the union that represents district instructors.

Keating is the 10th men’s basketball coach since Ventura started the program in 1947-48.

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Jim Keating File

By the Numbers

3--Golden Valley Conference Championships (1989, 1994, 1995).

4--Times named Golden Valley Conference coach of the year (1989, 1994, 1995, 1997).

9--Postseason appearances for Shasta Junior College during his tenure.

10--Seasons as head coach at Shasta.

15--Victories against 15 losses in final season at Shasta

20--Average victories per season at Shasta.

23--Players named to All-Golden Valley team

200--Victories at Shasta against 123 losses.