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Bill Keopple – Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator

Bill Keopple became the 19th head football coach at Southern Arkansas in December 2008. He had served the previous six years as head coach at Texarkana Arkansas High School.

Keopple brings 25 years of coaching experience to the Muleriders, including 18 as an assistant on the collegiate level with stops at Tulsa, Arkansas, Boise State and Central Arkansas. He will also serve as the offensive coordinator at SAU.

Keopple led his 2008 Arkansas High squad to a 5-7 record and the second round of the 6A state playoffs. His teams were 44-26-1 over the past six years, 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 high school football All-Star coaching staffs in 2004 and 2007.

Before taking over the reins at Texarkana, Keopple returned to coaching in 2002 after a two-year hiatus by joining former Arkansas defensive coordinator Keith Burns’ staff at Tulsa. He spent that season coaching the defensive line and serving as recruiting coordinator for the Hurricane.

Prior to spending two years in private business, 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 and finished 9-3 and played 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 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 1990-1995. During his tenure at UCA, the Bears won three NAIA national championships and 10 consecutive conference championships from 1983-1992 in the now defunct 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 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.

Keopple has a taste of his new Mulerider team’s conference affiliation in that his final three years on the Central Arkansas staff were its first three years in the Gulf South Conference.

No stranger to winning, Keopple has been associated with 18 championship teams as a player and coach. He 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, who is 50, and his wife, Marsha, have a son, Landon, who serves as the wide receiver and strength and conditioning coach for the Muleriders, and a daughter, Brittany, who lives in Texarkana.

Modified: August 14, 2009 at 4:03 pm