Bill Keopple enters his second season as head football coach at Southern Arkansas, hired in December 2008 as the 19th coach to lead the Muleriders.
Keopple has accumulated 26 years of coaching experience, including his first stint as a head coach on the collegiate level at SAU. He served 18 years as an assistant in the college ranks with stops at Tulsa, Arkansas, Boise State and Central Arkansas.
Prior to coming to Southern Arkansas, Keopple served six years (2003-2008) as head coach at Arkansas High School in Texarkana. His teams were 44-26-1 during his six seasons, advancing to the state playoffs the last five and winning consecutive state championships in 2006 and 2007. Keopple’s 2005 and 2006 Razorback teams were 6A South Conference champions. He was honored in 2006 as the 6A State Farm Coach of the Year, as well as 6A Outstanding Coach by the National Football Foundation in both 2006 and 2007, and was selected to serve on the Arkansas high school football All-Star coaching staffs in 2004 and 2007.
Before taking over the reins at Texarkana, Keopple spent the 2002 season at the University of Tulsa on former Arkansas defensive coordinator Keith Burns’ staff. He spent that season coaching the defensive line and serving as recruiting coordinator for the Golden Hurricane.
Keopple served as an assistant under Houston Nutt at Arkansas in 1998 and 1999, and was with Nutt at Boise State in 1997, coaching the defensive line at both schools. The Razorbacks were 1998 SEC Western Division champions, finishing 9-3 and playing Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Arkansas had the fifth-ranked rushing defense in the nation that season and was ranked seventh in total defense. The 1999 Razorbacks went 8-4 and defeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl, finishing the season 12th in rushing defense and 17th in total defense.
Keopple went to Boise State from Newport High School where he was head coach and athletic director in 1996. He guided the Greyhounds to the state playoffs in an 8-3 season, giving him an overall mark of 52-29-1 in his seven years as a head coach on the high school level.
Graduating with a B.S.E. in 1982 and an M.S.E. in 1986 from Central Arkansas, Keopple began his coaching career there in 1982 as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line. He spent 14 years with the Bears, tutoring the offensive line the entire time and serving as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator from 1990-95. During his tenure at UCA, the Bears won three NAIA national championships and 10 consecutive conference championships from 1983-92 in the former Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC).
A native of Little Rock, Keopple is the son of Hall of Fame high school coach C.W. Keopple. A 1976 graduate of Parkview High School, he played on the 1974 and 1976 state championship teams and was an all-state and super team selection his senior season.
During his playing days at Central Arkansas, Keopple was a member of two conference championship teams and was an honorable mention selection on both the All-NAIA District 17 and All-AIC teams. He served as a team captain his senior season in which the Bears were ranked first in the nation with an undefeated record and advanced to the national playoffs.
Keopple has been associated with 18 championship teams as a player and coach, and has recruited extensively on the collegiate level in 13 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
Keopple, 51, has been married 28 years to the former Marsha Lee Belew of Beebe, and they have a son, Landon, 27, and a daughter, Brittany, 25. Landon currently serves as the quarterback and wide receiver coach for the Muleriders and is SAU’s strength and conditioning coordinator, while Brittany is a sales rep for R.J. Reynolds in Texarkana.