Home away from home: Ferguson finds natural fit as new NSU head coach

Apr. 15—Leaving Lindsburg, Kansas was not as simple as it may sound for new Northeastern State University women's basketball coach Keith Ferguson.

For the past seven years, Ferguson was the head coach for Bethany College for the past six seasons. Before that, Ferguson graduated from Bethany with a business degree in 2011.

Leaving his alma mater was no easy choice. But when the NSU job became open the choice became a lot easier for Ferguson.

"Tahlequah reminds me of Lindsburg," said Ferguson. "We always said we weren't going to leave unless there was a situation that felt like home. Being able to coach in the best D-2 league in the country is pretty exciting. Looking at the job I thought it was a good situation and the right time to make the move."

Coming to the Midwest-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association has been a big goal for Ferguson. As an assistant and eventually a head coach across division one and division two colleges, he is eager for a shot in the MIAA.

At Bethany, Ferguson was the third-winningest head coach with a record of 121-87.

"When the job opened up here at NSU I thought it was a really good situation," said Ferguson. "I think there are some great people in the athletic department. It was just a job that had a lot of similarities to Bethany College. I was pretty excited about the possibility. I wasn't sure if I was going to be in the mix but here we are."

Now that he is with NSU, Ferguson's focus shifts to one area; recruiting.

Finding players for NSU's roster is not as simple as finding the best players in the area. Rather Ferguson wants to find players that can take a punch and continue competing. He wants a team full of players that fans are proud to root for.

"We are going to play hard and grind it out," said Ferguson. "They are going to be tough and compete all the time. We might take some lumps but we will have a group of kids that will want to be competitive.

We have to have kids that want to compete period. If they do not want to compete this is not the place for them to be."

Besides hoping fans will be drawn in by their competitiveness, Ferguson also looks to a hotbed of talent in the Tahlequah area.

"Our main thing is that we need to hit the ground and recruit," Ferguson said. "All that local talent that could really help and I think we need to give them a lot of attention."

Ferguson inherits a team that went 6-20 during the 2022-23 season. Turning this team around looks to be a daunting task for any head coach, but Ferguson seems to be up to the task.

Looking towards the community, Ferguson hopes to bring them closer to NSU and with that bring in players that want to give back to the community after their college careers are over.

Building a team that the community can get behind seems to be key to his coaching philosophy.

"I am excited at this opportunity and the chance to turn around this program," said Ferguson. "This is a big one for me. Coaching in this league and being at a school like this is really special to me. I am living my career goal right now."

Follow live sports coverage @JakeSermershein on Twitter