Ron Cottrell’s Husky Basketball
Coaching Staff
Steven Key
Assistant Coach
Steven Key is in his 18th year as assistant basketball coach after serving as a student assistant for three years. Key’s duties include scheduling, recruiting, scouting, game preparation, and on-the-floor coaching. He has been with head coach Ron Cottrell since Cottrell came to HBU, first as a manager, then as a student-assistant before assuming his current position.
He was a key ingredient in the Huskies’ success of nine straight conference championships and 10 consecutive NAIA national tournament appearances. He also was instrumental in the 2002-03 season’s history-making success and No. 1 national ranking.
Key served as director of sports information for seven years and was associate director of athletic media relations for one year, before concentrating solely on his basketball duties. In his sports information role, Key created the Huskies’ first athletic website in 1997 and received awards from the NAIA for his website expertise.
A three-sport letterman in basketball, baseball and football at Calvary Baptist High School in Savannah, Ga., Key came to HBU from Valdosta State University where he was the head manager for the Blazer basketball team. He has been involved in almost every facet of the athletic department since his arrival in 1991.
A 1995 graduate of Houston Baptist with degrees in history and human kinetics, Key is married to the former Sherry Blakely, a four-year letterwinner for the HBU softball team from 1992-95 and 2006 inductee into HBU’s Sports Hall of Honor. They are the proud parents 4-year-old Eiley Rowan. The Keys’ oldest daughter, Emma Claire, passed away May 15, 2010, shortly before her ninth birthday when the family was involved in a car accident while traveling in Louisiana.
Keith Berard
Assistant Coach
Keith Berard begins his fifth season as assistant basketball coach for HBU. Berard’s duties include recruiting, academics, on-the-floor coaching and he serves as camp coordinator for Ron Cottrell’s Husky Basketball Camp. He came to HBU after spending five seasons across town at Texas Southern University.
While at Texas Southern, Berard helped coach the Tigers to the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament title in 2003 and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to TSU, Berard spent three seasons at the College of Eastern Utah and one season at Howard College where he helped the Hawks to a 26-6 overall mark, which included a 14-0 conference record, and a berth into the NJCAA Region V Finals.
A native of Houston, Berard played for Mike Carrabine at St. Thomas High School, leading the Eagles to the state championship in 1990, earning All-District and All-State honors while being named Team MVP. Berard went on to play for former Husky Mark Osina at Weatherford College where he earned Second Team North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference honors and was named the Coyotes’ MVP.
Berard then played for Bill Evans at Southern Utah University. A two-year starter, he led the team in minutes played and was the squad’s second-leading scorer, shooting 41 percent from behind the arc for his career. Berard still ranks in the Top 10 at SUU in three-point percentage, assists and steals. He led the Thunderbirds to the America West Conference title in 1995 and was named First Team All- Conference and Team MVP. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in physical education in 1996 and briefly played in Switzerland in 1997.
Berard and his wife Sabrina have two daughters, Katelyn Dion (9) and Khloe Dion (5).
Jud Kinne
Assistant Coach
Jud Kinne is in his second season as assistant coach at HBU, after serving the last three seasons as associate head coach at Central Arizona College.
He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Albion College, a highly successful Division III school in Albion, Mich., under Mike Turner, who won 527 games to rank among Division III’s all-time leaders.
Kinne was head coach at Marygrove College in Detroit for two years, coaching four all-Americas, before assisting one season at Arizona State. He served under National Coach of the Year, Rob Evans, and was in charge of travel, on-campus recruiting, scouting and film exchange for the Sun Devils. He also spent one season at Centenary.
Kinne has worked camps all over the United States and internationally, including Michigan State, Arizona State, the University of Michigan, the University of San Diego and camps and clinics in China, Greece, the Ivory Coast and the Netherlands.
He and his wife, Amanda, have one daughter, Madilyn (3).
Ben Chase
Director of Basketball Operations
Ben Chase enters his first season as Director of Basketball Operations, at Houston Baptist University. The Newburyport, Mass., native will handle much of the Huskies’ video duties, which will aid the staff in advance scouting, as well as assist with team travel, academic monitoring and game and practice statistical analysis.
Chase played basketball at Division III Emerson College in Boston from 2004-08. He was captain of the team three times, led the squad to a 24-5 record as a senior while earning All-Great Northeast Athletic Conference honors. He was also an outstanding in the classroom, earning CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-America honors as a senior and was a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District pick in 2007 and 2008. He earned his bachelor’s degree in video production and marketing from Emerson in 2008.
He remained at Emerson, where he was an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams from 2008-10, then served as a graduate assistant last season at Boston University, where the Terriers won the America East Conference title and faced Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Chase earned his Master’s of Education in Physical Education, Health and Coaching from Boston University in 2011.
