Brian Keller, the all-time winningest football coach in Nebraska Wesleyan history, will enter his 21st season at the helm of his alma mater in 2016. Keller has a career record of 108-93 in 20 seasons. His teams have put together winning records in 15 of the 20 seasons under Keller.
Last season, Keller led the Prairie Wolves to a 4-6 overall record, including two victories over NAIA Top 25 nationally-ranked teams. Three straight years Keller has guided the Prairie Wolves to upsets of nationally-ranked opponents.Â
In the previous season Keller coached the State College Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year as well as the College Division CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year. He also has 12 players named to the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, the second highest total of any school in the country.
Keller led the Prairie Wolves to a 6-4 overall record in 2013, including two victories over NAIA Top 25 nationally-ranked opponents. NWU was 6-3 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference to finish fourth in the league standings with their best GPAC record since 2008.
In both 2011 and 2012 NWU led the entire nation in number of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans producing seven in 2011 and five in 2012.
From 2000-09 Keller coached the NWU football program to 10 consecutive seasons with a .500 or better record.
In 2008, Keller guided the Prairie Wolves to their third straight 7-3 record giving NWU three straight years with seven wins for the first time since 1989-91.
Keller’s career has produced 30 NAIA All-Americans and 33 Academic All-Americans in his tenure. In his 20 previous seasons, he has orchestrated six of the top 10 most productive offenses in team history and coached NWU’s all-time leading rusher, leading passer, the top three leading receivers and the school’s all-time leader in career pass completions. As an offensive line coach, Keller has tutored 12 All-Americans, as well as the National Offensive Lineman of the Year in 1998.
During his 20 years as head coach, Keller has had 62 players earn 1st-Team All-Conference honors. Ten players have been named NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients.
In 2000, Keller was named GPAC Co-Coach of the Year after he guided the Prairie Wolves to a share of the league title, the team’s first NAIA playoff berth since 1991 and an overall record of 8-3.
The Seward, Neb., native was a four-year letter winner for Nebraska Wesleyan as a defensive lineman and linebacker from 1979 to 1982. After graduating in 1983 with a B.S. in Business Administration, Keller began his coaching career at Seward High School, where he worked with receivers and outside linebackers.
In 1984, Keller joined the Nebraska Wesleyan coaching staff as an assistant to Orson Christensen. Keller coached the offensive line for three years as the team won six games each season, compiling an overall mark of 18-12.
Keller then followed Christensen to Eastern Oregon State College in LaGrande, Ore., where he began his preparation for a head coaching position. In nine seasons at Eastern Oregon State, Keller served as offensive line coach and coordinated the special teams, recruitment and strength training for the Mountaineers. He was promoted to assistant head coach before accepting the opening at Nebraska Wesleyan.
At Eastern Oregon State, Keller obtained his master’s degree in Education in 1991, compiling a 4.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale). Aside from his duties as head football coach, Keller is an instructor in the Department of Health and Human Performance. He and his wife, Jeanette, have three sons, Crew (a senior on the NWU football team), Braly (a freshman on the NWU football team) and Quinn.
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