Dan Keefe spent his last 14 years working as Holliston’s freshman and junior-varsity girls basketball coach. Now, he’s ready to lead the Panthers at the varsity level.
The 54-year-old Keefe, who is assistant director for the Natick Recreation and Parks Department, has been appointed as Holliston’s new coach, replacing Kristen Hedrick. Last year, Keefe served as the Panthers’ interim head coach, taking the reins when Hedrick stepped aside for medical reasons.
The personable Keefe joined the Holliston program at Hedrick’s urging. His first five years were as frosh coach and the last nine were at the jayvee level.
“Kristen is doing well, but she will be missed,’’ Keefe said. “She had great success as head coach. Her kids were always ready to play, everyone of them, and she built self-esteem in her kids. During varsity games, she wanted all her coaches on the bench and she welcomed input. She built confidence in me as a coach.’’
Before Keefe consented to joining Holliston’s staff in 2001, he told Hedrick that three conditions had to be met for him to accept the freshman job. “I told Kristen that all the kids had to play, I wanted to play man-to-man, and I didn’t want any evaluation of me to be based only on wins and losses,’’ Keefe recalled. “Her response was ‘when can you start?’’’
As a freshman and jayvee coach, Keefe was acutely aware that his main function was to prepare players for the varsity. Now, winning is more of a front-burner priority.
“My competitive philosophy is that winning will take care of itself if players learn teamwork, commit to the program and work hard,’’ Keefe emphasized. “Teams with less talent than others can win if their players sacrifice.’’
Keefe, who went 3-17 in his interim role last year, has one specific goal for this winter. He believes his Panther girls can qualify for tournament play. “We’ll be young after losing five senior starters,’’ he said. “And, we’ll have growing pains because of inexperience. The journey will be tough but getting to the tourney is possible.’’
Three valuable players returning are senior forward Rachel Elkinson and junior guards Grace Dzindolet and Tess Powers. The trio will be captains. “Rachel is tough and scrappy,’’ Keefe said. “She’s always at the right place at the right time. Grace is creative and spirited and can shoot while Tess is intense and versatile, can get to the hoop and has improved her basketball IQ.’’
Other core players include juniors Abby Rae Wells (guard), Kaleigh Powers (forward) and Kami Kozubal (forward) and sophomore Brooke Geoffroy. “They’re a quality, hard-working group that will surprise some people,’’ Keefe said. “Their upside is huge.’’
A resident of Natick for 50 years, Keefe graduated from Natick High in 1980 where he played football, baseball and ran track. A second knee injury as a sophomore cut short his football career. A catcher-third baseman, he played two seasons of baseball and ran the 50 and 300 in track. Majoring in business administration at Merrimack College, he graduated in 1985, then worked first for Raytheon and later for Dunn & Bradstreet. For the last 27 years, he’s worked in Natick’s recreation department.
“As assistant director, I oversee summer camps, youth and adult programming, youth basketball and the town beach,’’ said Keefe, who is married and has a daughter.
Fully understanding the value of athletics in a student’s life, Keefe knows that valuable life lessons can be learned. He’s eager to instill those lessons as the varsity coach. “A coach is in a position to help players learn sportsmanship and how to work as a team,’’ he said. “I also will try to develop an individual’s talents within a team framework.’’
A coach who plans on playing an up-tempo style with lots of pressure defense, Keefe pulled off a remarkable victory last year in the Panthers final game, which was Senior Night against Bellingham. His girls trailed by nine points with 1:30 left in the game.
“Bellingham was 0-19 but came in all fired up,’’ he recalled. “We were playing not to lose and were making some mistakes. I had saved my timeouts and had three left. We went into a press, forced turnovers and got three-point baskets from Grace and Tess. We hit our free throws and won it.’’
That was a study in how perseverance and calm leadership can enable a team to prevail. Keefe has coached youth sports and he’s been a basketball referee. He definitely knows the ropes.
Kristen Hedrick was a superb coach and she’ll be greatly missed. But a new era is dawning and the transition to Dan Keefe should be smooth.