Sacred Heart has officially made the hire of Matt O’Keefe as its new girls’ basketball coach on Thursday.
“We are super excited that Coach O’Keefe made the choice to continue coaching these girls,” Sacred Heart Athletic Director Joe Falla Jr. said. “It’ll be interesting and will be exciting to see how what exactly he can do with a full year under his belt of having these girls under his wing. I know the Sacred Heart Family is super excited and super anxious for basketball season to come back around.”
O’Keefe took over as the interim head coach of the program midway through the season.
After starting with a 3-6 record, O’Keefe help guide the Lady Crusaders to their first ever district championship and first appearance in the semifinals in Jackson.
After taking a day, O’Keefe accepted the job Thursday morning.
“There is just something about this group of kids,” O’Keefe said. “They are young and are eager. They play with a lot of heart. There is something special about them. I’m just looking forward to keep working with them and see what happens in the future.”
Prior to Sacred Heart, O’Keefe started his coaching career at Perry Central in 1983 and was promoted to head coach in 1985. O’Keefe coached at Perry Central until 1998 before taking the head coaching position as Raleigh for 1999-2000 season and then coached at Petal in 2002.
O’Keefe returned to Perry Central again and coached from 2003-2007.
In his career, O’Keefe’s overall record stands 613-177 while making semifinal appearances in 1990, 1997, 2004 and state final appearances in 1989 and 1990.
