Kerry Keating out as Santa Clara head basketball coach

Santa Clara announced Monday that head basketball coach Kerry Keating was being let go after nine seasons with the Broncos. Keating had a 139-159 overall record as Santa Clara head coach but was never able to finish higher than fourth in the WCC standings.

Keating’s most notable achievements were leading the Broncos to a CIT Championship in 2011 and a CBI Championship in 2013. Santa Clara is the first (and so far only) program to win a title in each of these tournaments.

Also notable during Keating’s tenure was academic success. The Santa Clara program has had a 100 percent graduation rate over the last eight years and has been represented on the WCC All-Academic team in eight of the last nine seasons.

Keating is an East Coast-native, born in Massachusetts and raised in Rockville Centre, New York. Among his prior coaching stops were assistant positions under Ben Howland at UCLA (2003-2007) and Buzz Peterson at Tennessee, Tulsa & Appalachian State (1998-2003).

The next Santa Clara coach will have the unenviable task of competing with Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s at the top of the conference. The last time a team outside those two won the WCC Tournament was in 2008, when San Diego took down the Zags in the title game.