HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Sam Houston State head coach K.C. Keeler has been named the winner of the 2016 STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award, given to the top coach in the FCS, per an announcement by STATS on Wednesday.
Keeler is the first Bearkat head coach to claim the Robinson Award, and the third from the Southland Conference, joining Nicholls' Darren Barbier (1996) and McNeese's Tommy Tate (2002) in that category.
“It is a great honor to receive an award named after one of the legendary coaches in the history of college football,” Keeler said on Wednesday. “I knew of him through my college coach, Tubby Raymond, who also was a legend, because Coach Robinson also ran the wing-T offense. I know he and Coach Raymond had a relationship and Coach Raymond loved telling stories about Coach Robinson because I know the respect that he had for him."
"So, to be named the recipient of this award and knowing the number of great coaches who have won it prior to myself and the fact that it is named after Coach Robinson makes this truly humbling.”
This comes in addition to Keeler winning the Southland Conference Coach of the Year honor at the conclusion of the regular season, making him just the third Bearkat coach – along with Willie Fritz and Ron Randleman – to have taken that honor. He had twice previously been a finalist for the honor, finishing fourth in 2003 on his way to leading Delaware to the national title.
Keeler took over the Bearkats in 2014, and has led them to the FCS playoffs in each season. His Kats can clinch their third straight berth in the national semifinals with a win on Friday at James Madison.
“It is also important to note that this award is not indicative of just the job I've done, but the job of our entire staff,” Keeler said. “We have an incredible group here who have all been a part of helping us do what we have done this season. This award is just as much theirs as it is mine.”
This year the Kats finished the regular season 11-0 for just the second time in program history and held the No. 1 spot in the STATS FCS and NCAA Coaches' polls for the final six weeks of the season before entering the FCS playoffs as the No. 5 seed.
It was a milestone season for Keeler, who earned his 200th career win on Oct. 1 in a win in the Battle of the Piney Woods over Stephen F. Austin. He is now 208-86-1 in his 23rd year of coaching between stops at Rowan, Delaware and Sam Houston and is the ninth-fastest coach to reach the 200-win mark in the history of college football.
This season is the 13th 10-win season in his career and gives him a 34-9 record as the Bearkat head man, including 23-3 in Southland Conference play. He has picked up 37 playoff victories in his career and his 18-5 record in FCS Playoff games gives him the highest playoff winning percentage among active coaches with at least 15 playoff games coached.
