Keenan tabbed to lead beach volleyball
11/26/2024 10:30:00 AM | Women's Volleyball, Beach Volleyball
HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston made a big move in its journey toward beginning its beach volleyball program in the Spring 2025 semester, announcing the hiring of Brad Keenan as its first head coach on Tuesday.
SHSU officially announced the addition of beach volleyball to its ledger of sports in 2023 with play set to begin as a member of Conference USA in Spring 2025. It is the first new sport added to Sam Houston's competition roster since the addition of women's bowling in 2010.
"I want to thank Bobby Williams, Chris Thompson, Travis Lies, Trevor Thorn and Brenda Gray for entrusting me to start the Bearkat Beach Volleyball program," Keenan said upon his hiring. "I am looking forward to building a competitive beach volleyball program along with help the already successful indoor program."
Keenan will serve under the overall direction of longtime Bearkat head coach Brenda Gray, who recently completed her 41st season at Sam Houston. His first duty upon arrival will be to put together a schedule, with players to be primarily sourced from the indoor roster already on campus.
"We are incredibly excited to welcome Brad to Sam Houston and for the addition of beach volleyball to SHSU's roster of sponsored sports," Gray said. "He has successfully started a program before at Arizona State, so it makes us comfortable to know he's going to have the chance to do it again."
Keenan takes over as the leader of Sam Houston Beach Volleyball after serving for a year as the Director of Volleyball at Drive Nation. Prior to joining Drive Nation, Keenan spent seven seasons as the head beach coach at Arizona State where he guided the Sand Devils to a 90-97 record in his time.
He led the Sand Devils to a 6-5 record in Pac-12 play in his final season at the helm in 2023. The six-win total was the most for ASU within Pac-12 play in program history, sweeping season series against Utah and Oregon, along with in-state rival Arizona for the first time since 2014.
Keenan pushed the program to a 17-15 record in 2022, the second-highest win total in ASU history. The Sand Devils earned five Pac-12 wins, the most in the previous seven years of conference play. He led ASU to four sweeps and a 10-12 overall record in 2021, picking up wins over Washington, Utah and No. 11 Cal.
In 2020, Keenan was in his fourth season and had his team ranked in three different weeks until the season was cut short due to concerns regarding COVID-19. During that time, the team did not lose to an unranked team, continuing the trend from 2019 which saw the Sand Devils earn a 21-14 record, tallying the most wins in program history.
The victory total beat the previous high of 16, which was reached in 2017. The season culminated with Arizona State's best outing at the Pac-12 Championship, winning two matches for the first time. ASU beat three top-20 teams during the season: No. 16 Grand Canyon, No. 10 Cal and No. 20 Stanford. Additionally, the Sun Devils did not lose a single match to an unranked team in 2019.
Keenan was named the head coach of the ASU program in May of 2016 and made his way to Tempe after a stint as a graduate assistant coach at Concordia University in 2015 where he ultimately earned his master's degree in exercise and sports science.
Prior to moving into coaching at Concordia, Keenan spent nine years on the professional beach circuit, debuting in 2006 and earning 25 top-three finishes on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour. He was named the 2006 Rookie of the Year and earned Most Improved Player accolades in 2007. In 2014 he was recognized as the AVP's Best Server. He also spent seven years with the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), from 2009-15.
Keenan has also served as a volunteer assistant with the USA Women's National Team, Balboa Bay Volleyball Club, Surf City Volleyball Club, and with the Fountain Valley High School Varsity Volleyball program.
A four-time AVCA All-American and two-time National Player of the Year at Pepperdine, he starred as a middle blocker from 2000-03 for the Waves. He finished his career as the school's record holder in blocks and service aces and before ultimately earning his Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
In 2014, Keenan was inducted into the Pepperdine Hall of Fame.
