Bringing more than a decade of Division I coaching experience to the Cal Poly men’s basketball program, Keith Berard was announced on Friday as an assistant coach with the Mustangs, completing third-year head coach John Smith‘s staff for the upcoming season.
“I’m very excited to add someone to our staff who brings a wealth of experience, as well as a different recruiting base,” Smith said. “The thing that sticks out to me with coach Berard is his longevity in one place. It speaks volumes about his character. He’s one of the hardest workers that I’ve known in this business in the last 20 years dating to our battles as junior college coaches at College of Southern Idaho and Eastern Utah. I truly feel he and his family are a perfect fit for what I was looking for.”
Berard arrives after a two-stint, 10-season stretch at Houston Baptist. With Berard, the Huskies enjoyed their most successful year since returning to Division I during the 2016-17 season as Houston Baptist finished 17-14 overall and fourth in the Southland Conference standings with a 12-6 mark. Houston Baptist closed the 2016-17 regular season with nine successive wins before being selected for the postseason CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Berard, also an assistant coach with Houston Baptist from 2007-12, served as head coach at Episcopal HS in Houston from 2013-16. While an assistant coach at Weber State during the 2012-13 season, Berard helped the Wildcats to a 30-7 record, 18-2 finish in the Big Sky Conference and a second-place finish in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. In reaching the tournament’s championship game, Weber State defeated Cal Poly in the first round.
Prior to his initial stretch with Houston Baptist, Berard was as an assistant coach at Texas Southern, assisting the Tigers to the 2003 Southwestern Athletic Conference title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Also a three-year assistant at College of Eastern Utah and one-year assistant at Howard, Berard played collegiately at Southern Utah (1993-95) after transferring from two-year Weatherford (Texas) College. Berard earned All-American West Conference first team honors in 1995 after helping Southern Utah to the league regular season and tournament titles. He ranks among Southern Utah’s all-time single season leaders for three-point percentage, assists and steals.
A Houston native who played at St. Thomas HS, Berard earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Southern Utah in 1996 before embarking on a professional playing career in Switzerland.
Berard joins fourth year assistant coach David Hanson and third year assistant Justin Downer on Cal Poly’s bench.
Berard named Assistant Coach at Cal Poly
