| Rudy Keeling | ||
 |
Commissioner | |
| rkeeling@ecac.org | ||
| 508-771-5060 ext. 241 | ||
On May 1, 2007, Rudy Keeling became the seventh commissioner of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and the first African-American to assume this prestigious position.
At the ECAC, he oversees the largest intercollegiate conference in the country with approximately 300 Division I, II and III members, nine affiliate organizations and six playing leagues. Keeling also oversees an officiating bureau with more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. Under Keeling’s leadership, the ECAC has co-hosted the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final Four at Gillette Stadium, and will serve as the host of 2014 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Frozen Four in Philadelphia. He has helped to expand championship and tournament playing opportunities for the membership and oversaw the creation of the ECAC Holiday Festival at Disney in 2008, a Division III men’s and women’s basketball tournament.
Most recently serving as the Director of Athletics at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, Keeling brings to the ECAC over twenty-five years of experience in collegiate athletics. Named to the position at Emerson in October of 2002, Keeling, through cooperative work with the City of Boston, oversaw the development of multi-million dollar state-of-the-art athletic facilities. The creation of these structures enabled the College to make significant enhancements to its Athletics Department and increase the number of varsity athletic teams. In addition to his responsibilities at Emerson, Keeling was also a member of the ECAC Board of Directors where he served as Chair of the Marketing Committee.
Keeling is on the Board of Directors of the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) and is a member of the Conference Commissioners Association for Division I, II and III. In 2008, he was elected to the executive committee for the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
Keeling has served as a member of
several NCAA committees. He served as the chair of the Minority
Opportunity and Interests Committee, and was the chair of the
Division III subcommittee on membership issues. He was also a
member of the NCAA strategic planning and finance committee and the
NCAA nominating committee. In addition, he recently completed his
term on the NCAA management council.
A graduate of Quincy College, where he majored in history, Keeling
began his professional career in 1980 as an assistant men’s
basketball coach at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. In addition
to his assistant coaching responsibilities, he planned and created
the Academic Assistance Program for Student/Athletes. In
1986, he was named the assistant men’s basketball coach at
Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 1988, Keeling began his head coaching career at the University
of Maine, Orono. He guided the Black Bears until 1996, when
he was named the head men’s basketball coach at Northeastern
University in Boston, a position he held until April of 2002.
Throughout his tenure as a head coach, Keeling has demonstrated his
high level of commitment to the academic and athletic success of
student-athletes, graduating almost every student-athlete he ever
coached.
