When he took over the Hardin-Simmons program in 1990, Jimmie Keeling had just ended a Hall of Fame High School career. Now, 21 years later he has put together an impressive collegiate resume. The legendary coach has now combined to coach 513 games in his over 50 years as a head coach.
     Keeling was hired as the head coach to revive Hardin-Simmons’ football program after a 27-year absence in 1990. He has put together one of the top Division III programs in the country and HSU is the winningest collegiate team in Texas since 1990. His teams have posted a record of 164-51.
    His collegiate resume also includes 10 conference titles, 20 NAIA or NCAA Division III playoff games, six conference coach of the year awards and he ranks sixth among active Division III coaches with a .763 winning percentage. He also ranks seventh in the nation in active wins by a Division III coach.
    Last year’s 6-4 record marked the program’s 18th-straight winning season, which ranks 12th in all divisions of NCAA football. It is the fourth-longest streak in Division III.
    In 1997, he became HSU’s all-time wins leader, surpassing the late Warren Woodson. When Keeling’s team took the field against Chapman on Sept. 19, 1998, it was his 89th game, passing Woodson for the most games ever as an HSU coach.
    Keeling graduated from Evant High School in 1953. He started his collegiate career at Tarleton State University, then a junior college, and finished his undergraduate work at Howard Payne in 1958. His first coaching job came soon after, taking the reins as head coach and athletic director at Dublin in 1959.
    Later came stops in Tulia and Elgin. In 1968, Keeling enjoyed perhaps his finest hour as a high school coach when his Lubbock Estacado squad went 14-0 and claimed the Class 4A state championship. Two years later, he helped Andrews to the Class 4A quarterfinals. Later, in 1978, he led Lamar Consolidated to a regional championship.
    That success continued when Keeling became head coach at San Angelo Central in 1979, and remained there for 10 seasons. His Bobcats advanced all the way to the Class 5A regional championships in 1982 and in 1988, reached the state quarterfinals. Keeling’s last high school stop was at John Tyler High School in Tyler for one year.
    In 1990, Keeling was chosen to revive the Cowboy program, which hadn’t played a football game since 1963. The Cowboys went 3-6 with a team comprised of almost all freshmen the first season. The next year, the Cowboys challenged for the TIAA title in 1991, going 5-5. Keeling guided the next five Cowboys squads to the playoffs, including a NAIA Division II semifinal game against Westminster (Pa.) in 1993.
    Keeling succeeded Dr. Merlin Morrow as director of athletics in 1995, a position he held two years. On May 7, 1997, Keeling officially relinquished his post as athletic director so he could focus solely on coaching.
    In 1995, Keeling was rewarded for his 30 years of excellence in high-school coaching when he was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor. Keeling posted a career high school record of 196-91-11.
    In July of 2003, he received the Head Football Coaching Award by the All-American Football Foundation. In 2004, he was given the Grant Teaff Lifetime Achievement Award by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
    Keeling, born in San Angelo on Aug. 10, 1935, is a member of the American Football Coaches Association Nominating Committee. He is married to the former Susan Zesch, and the couple has five grown children. Dale, who is the head football coach and athletic director at Everman High School; Judy, who lives in Tyler; Lisa, who lives in Las Vegas; Lana, who lives in Austin and Kelly, who now resides in Graham. He has 14 grandchildren.
    Susan, a native of Mason and a graduate of Texas Tech, is a former business teacher and past president of the AFCA Wives Association, she was also honored as the Woman of the Year by the Texas High School Coaches Wives Association
    The Keelings are active members of the First Baptist Church in Abilene.

    Steve Barrows is in his third year as the co-defensive coordinator for the Cowboys. He will coach the linebackers for the Cowboys. He also is in charge of academics for the football team.
    He helped turn around a defense that was last in the nation prior to his arrival to a middle of the pack defense in 2008 to No. 105 in the nation and No. 2 in the ASC last season.
     Barrows joined the program in January of 2008 after being the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach at Indiana State University. Prior to that, he spent four years as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Charleston Southern University.
    He has coached a pair of all-ASC linebackers in his first two years. Ricky Poe in 2008 and Paul Girard in 2009.
    In his time at CSU, the team went from 1-11 to 9-2 and at one point had a 14-game winning streak over two years. His 2006 team was 13th in the nation in rushing defense and that team was 22nd in the nation in scoring defense allowing only 18 points per game.
    Barrows has experience as a Division III head coach at Anderson University in Indiana from 1999 to 2002. The team was 2-18 the two years prior to him coming in and he was 6-14 the first two years and improved it to 15-5 over his final two seasons.
    His other coaching stops include Bethany College in Kansas and the University of Minnesota - Morris.
    He also was an assistant coach at Jacksonville High School in North Carolina, was an offensive coordinator at William Penn College in Iowa and spent time as a graduate assistant at the University of Washington and Ohio University.
    He and his wife Jennifer have been married 18 years and have a daughter, Emma. He is a native of Lithopolis, Ohio. He has a bachelor of science degree in physical education from Ohio University and a master’s in Athletic Administration also from Ohio University.

    Jesse Burleson enters his fifth season as the Cowboys’ offensive line coach. He has had one of the top offensive lines in the conference each of his first four years.
    He has a line that returns five guys that started four or more games this past season. He also has two players Cody Honeycutt and Koby Parker that have been named preseason all-Americans.
    Prior to the 2008 season, he was named the Assistant Head Coach for the program and he is also the recruiting coordinator. He also handles the day-to-day equipment duties and he manages all of the team travel.
    In 2008, he put together an offensive line that featured a pair of All-Americans in Brian Fitzgearld and Ryan Hunter. He guided center Josh Knox to All-American honors and also the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center in 2006. James Arnold was an honorable mention All-American in 2007, continuing the Cowboys streak of having an All-American offensive lineman every year since 1999.
    Both Knox and Arnold have been selected to compete in the Aztec Bowl, which is a Division III all-star game.
    Burleson was an all-ASC selection as a player at Hardin-Simmons and was also an academic standout where he was academic all-ASC, academic All-American and graduated Magna Cum Laude from HSU.
    He spent time as a student assistant coach at Hardin-Simmons after his playing career.
    He has had high school coaching stops at Clyde (his hometown), South Grand Prairie, Temple and most recently the offensive coordinator at Odessa Permian High School.
    He and his wife, Lois, have two daughters - Marisa and Lainey.

    Chris Jones, a former all-American football player at Hardin-Simmons, has returned to his alma mater as the defensive line and junior varsity coach.
    Jones, who spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant at Sam Houston State, is back at HSU to coach a position he patrolled for four seasons for the Cowboys. He spent the 2007 season as a graduate assistant at HSU after a stellar four-year career as a defensive lineman. He claimed two American Southwest Conference titles in his playing career at HSU.
    Jones never missed a game as a player as he started 22 straight games and played in 41 straight contests. He had 22.5 career tackles for loss, nine sacks and 126 career tackles from his defensive tackle position. He was a two-time all-ASC selection and was named a second-team All-American and a first-team all-South region as a senior.
    Jones is a native of Brownwood and has a bachelor’s degree from Hardin-Simmons in sports, fitness and leisure and he needs nine hours to complete his master’s degree.
    Jones replaces Sam Shields, who retired after the season.

Jay Niemann is in his third season as the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach for the Cowboys.
    He helped turn around a defense that was last in the nation prior to his arrival to a middle of the pack defense in 2008 to No. 105 in the nation and No. 2 in the ASC last season.
    He lost both of his starting cornerbacks in the first game of last year. He had to adjust on the fly, but the Cowboys still had a solid defensive unit.
    Niemann served as the head football coach at Simpson from 2002-2007, compiling a 32-29 record (a .526 winning percentage). He led them to the 2003 NCAA playoffs. Niemann also served as the Storm defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
    Niemann came to Simpson from the University of Northern Iowa where he served as the secondary coach (1997, 2001), linebacker coach (1998-1999), and defensive coordinator (1999-2000) for the Panthers.
    Niemann moved to Cedar Falls after a seven-year stint (1989-1996) at Drake University. During Niemann’s tenure at Drake, he served as the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and secondary coach.
    Niemann joined the Drake staff after serving as a graduate assistant at the University of Washington. Niemann worked with the Huskies’ inside linebackers and defensive backs.
    Niemann was an assistant football coach at Western Washington University (1985) and received his master’s in educational administration from Western Washington in 1987.
    Niemann began his coaching career in 1983 as a student assistant at Iowa State University after playing for the Cyclones from 1979-82. He earned a B.S. from Iowa State University in physical education. Niemann was an All-State football selection for Avo-Ha High School.
    Jay and his wife Lou Ann have two sons, Benjamin and Nicholas.

    Alan Wartes is back for his 21st season as the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys and his offense has established itself as one of the most consistently elite in the nation.
    The Cowboys have been in the top 20 in the nation in offense in 11 of the last 14 years.
    Coaches from all levels of play take pages out of the HSU playbook and his Big Country Passing Camp is a big hit among quarterbacks and receivers all over the Southwest.
    Since 1990, HSU quarterbacks have thrown 434 touchdown passes and more than 51,000 yards. Wartes has coached four All-American quarterbacks, Tom Enloe, Kevin Beam, Todd Baumann and Dustin Proctor, as well as nine All-American receivers.
    He has coached 142 offensive players to all-conference honors at HSU, including eight ASC or TIAA players of the year.
        The native of the Panhandle town of Hereford, served as quarterback coach at John Tyler High School in Tyler under then-head coach Jimmie Keeling. Prior to that, he was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech, where he earned a master’s degree.
    The 1986 Howard Payne University graduate, is married to the former Sharon Harmon of Dallas. They are the parents of daughters Abbey and Erin.