Keeling, Jimmie

May 9, 2022

JIMMIE KEELING, former Hardin-Simmons football coach, is the third recipient of the Impact on Big Country Athletics Award. Hundreds of high school football coaches around the state got their start playing for Keeling. After a long high school coaching career that included winning a state championship at Lubbock Estacado in 1968, Keeling was hired in 1990 to bring football back to Hardin-Simmons. He led the Cowboys to the national playoffs in 11 of his 21 seasons as the HSU coach. His combined coaching record in high school and college is 368 wins with just 144 losses and 11 ties. He has won numerous awards, including induction into the Lubbock ISD Hall of Fame and the Hardin-Simmons Athletic Hall of Fame. A statue of Keeling was unveiled this fall at HSU’s Shelton Stadium.