Clifford Patrick Keen (June 13, 1901 – November 4, 1991) was an American coach who served as the head coach of the University of Michigan collegiate wrestling team from 1925 to 1970. He led the Michigan Wolverines to 13 Big Ten Conference championships, and coached 68 All-American wrestlers. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
Early life and college
Keen was born on a ranch at Red Moon in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, near the town of Cheyenne. His high school in Weatherford, Oklahoma had no wrestling team; one of his high school classmates was Arnold "Swede" Umbach. He was playing basketball one day when a wrestler asked him if he could help as a partner so he could practice his moves; after Keen was beaten by the much smaller man, he decided to go out for the wrestling team. He got his start in wrestling as a middleweight at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University–Stillwater), where he became a three time Missouri Valley Conference Champion.
Keen was undefeated as a collegiate wrestler at 158 lbs, but was defeated by Leon Gorman of Texas at 175 lbs when Gallagher asked him to wrestle a second bout in a dual meet after winning his previous bout. At that time, there was no scoring, wrestlers won bouts on riding time or by pin; each of the three periods wrestled was 7 minutes per period, and some bouts went 30 minutes. His wrestling coach at Oklahoma A&M was Edward C. Gallagher. Keen was also a lineman for the Oklahoma A&M football team coached by Michigan All-American John Maulbetsch, and a sprinter on the track team also coached by Gallagher. He was named to the 1924 Olympic team, but did not compete because of a broken rib; Keen had wins over two wrestlers on the team, Guy Lookabaugh and Orion Stuteville.
Keen graduated from Oklahoma A&M in 1924 with a major in salesmanship; he also was business manager of "The Orange and Black, " the school newspaper where he met sports editor, Jess Hoke. His brother, Paul, was also on the football team, and was captain of the basketball team; however, he also learned wrestling from Gallagher and coached at Warner, Yale, and Geary High Schools. Gallagher initiated the Oklahoma State High School Wrestling Championships in 1922. Paul earned a master's degree at the University of Michigan in 1944, and became the intramural director at the University of Oklahoma, where he coached wrestling, 1927–1936. Paul also was twice elected Mayor of Norman. Both Cliff and Paul are the only two brothers to be named as U.S. Olympic Wrestling Coaches in 1948 and 1940. Keen met his wife, Mildred, at Oklahoma A&M; she was a High School State Champion in Tennis.
Keen started his coaching career in 1924 as a high school football coach in Frederick, Oklahoma where he earned $175 a month for teaching social studies and coaching football, basketball, baseball, and wrestling; Mildred also taught at Frederick. Keen's 1925 team outscored opponents 355 to 3. Fielding Yost hired Keen for an annual salary of $3,000 on the recommendation of his football coach, John Maulbetsch.
Coaching career at Michigan
After coaching high school in Oklahoma for two years, Keen took a job at Michigan as the wrestling coach and assistant football coach. His teams won Big Ten championships in 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1938, and five of his teams in his first 12 years went through their seasons with a single defeat. One of his first great wrestlers was Ed Don George, who later became the world's heavyweight champion. Another one of his outstanding wrestlers on his 1938 team, Harold Nichols, went on to become one of the greatest coaches in NCAA Wrestling History after coaching at Iowa State, 1954–1985. Other pupils, Frank Bissell at The Hill School, Larry Nelson at Vacaville (CA), and Mike Rodriquez at Detroit Catholic Central all went on to be recognized as some of the greatest high school coaches in the United States. Bissell sent over 20 of his finest wrestlers to Keen to wrestle for Michigan from late 1940s through 1970 including his own son.
