Longtime Homestead football coach resigns
For the first time since he was an adolescent probably, Dave Keel’s schedule will be wide open in the fall.
Keel, who spent the past 30 seasons as the head football coach at Homestead, resigned Friday, ending a career that included 292 victories, an .807 winning percentage and six state championships.
The news came one day after the WIAA pushed the start of football practice from Aug. 3 to Sept. 7 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Saturday Keel, 66, said he had considered retiring for the past few years and noted that the uncertainly of the upcoming season due to the pandemic played a role.
“I think it just made sense to step away now,” he said. “It’s a good time all in all.”
Keel’s three-decade run at Homestead made him the second-longest tenured coach at his current school in southeast Wisconsin behind Bill Young, who has been at Catholic Memorial for 42 years.
A Milwaukee Hamilton graduate who played at UW-La Crosse, Keel started his career as an assistant to Phil Datka at Germantown and came to Homestead in 1979. He succeeded John Brodie as head coach in 1989.
Keel led Homestead to the state final seven times and won in 1999, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015 and 2018. His teams had a string of 18 straight North Shore Conference titles that was snapped last season.
Keel leaves with a record of 292-70 and ranks 10th all-time in the state in coaching victories. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association inducted him into its hall of fame in 2012.
“I wish I had a nickel for every former player that or coach that has been part of our program who contacted me and wished well and said good things about their experience in our program and how much they appreciated what they learned in the Homestead football program and how the Homestead football program has helped them to become a better person,” Keel said. “It’s been overwhelmingly heart warming.”
In addition to his work on the sidelines, Keel was the president of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association from 2007-09.
He also earned hall of fame distinction as a softball coach. He was also inducted into the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches hall of fame in 2016 and led Homestead to 13 state tournament appearances that included state runner-up finishes in 1983, 88 and 2010.
His departure continues a run a of coaching changes at the area’s highestprofile programs. Arrowhead (Matt Harris) and Marquette (Keith Klestinski) also will have new coaches this upcoming season.
Homestead has at least two strong candidates on staff in offensive coordinator Drake Zortman and defensive coordinator Matt Wolf.
The two held those positions for the past five seasons, a run that included two state championships. Zortman spent four years as the head coach at Shorewood/Messmer, leading it to a conference title in 2013.
“We’ve got a bevy of fantastic coaches and our players are so committed,” Keel said. “That is going to be the difficult part. A number of players and I texted a little bit over the last day and a half and some of the quality kids we have coming back, that is the toughest part, not having the opportunity coach them the next couple of years.”
Led by defensive end Ade Adebogun, a Wisconsin recruit, Homestead is expected to contend for the title in the North Shore again this season.
Keel plans to watch from afar while taking advantage of his free time to be with family.
“I cannot thank our community enough for the support they’ve had for me over the past 39 years as a coach in the district,” said Keel, who also thanked his wife, Pam. “It’s been a wonderful place to be. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”