David Hastings will not be returning to Keene State College for the 2024-2025 men’s basketball season.
Hastings began his career as an Owl in the 2016-2017 season where he served as assistant coach for two years and then moved up to associate head coach for five.
Hastings started as Acting Head Coach of the men’s basketball team for the 2023-2024 season after his predecessor, Ryan Cain left to coach at John Hopkins University in Maryland.
According to Hastings, his overall record was 154-60 (.72 winning percentage) with a Little East Conference record of 90- 25 (.78 winning percentage). He helped bring the men’s basketball team to 4 LEC Tournament Championships, and 3 LEC Regular Season Championships.
Wesley Odiase, a first-year forward on the team explained, “My experience with Hastings as my coach was that we worked well together,” he said. “I don’t think I would have gotten my personal accomplishments without him as my coach.”
Before Hastings started coaching at Keene he served in the military and was the chief of police in Gill, Mass. according to KSC athletics. During his time as chief of police, he coached high school basketball.
“When I got done coaching high school basketball Ryan Cain had a job up here so I came up to work with him,” Hastings said. “It was very much a father and son type of relationship, I have a son the same age as Ryan who actually passed away so Ryan filled a gap for me in some ways on a personal level that wasn’t about basketball, it kind of brought us together and then both of our love for the game of basketball.”
Hastings continued, “I really love the Keene State atmosphere, the school itself is phenomenal, I highly recommend any student-athlete to be able to come here and experience what they have here both on the athletic and the academic side.”
Currently, Hastings said he is deciding on whether he wants to continue coaching or officiating,
“I have actually been elected the president of the local official’s board-basketball board, down in my area where I live, so at this point, I am the runner of the basketball board of the officials and I don’t know whether I am going to still go to the coaching side or go straight into officiating,” Hastings said. “I’ve been an official for 21 years already so it’s not something new it’s whether I choose to do that other than coach.”
Hastings ends his 2023-2024 career after being voted as the LEC coach of the year and the Region 2 Coach of the Year.
Regarding Hasting’s absence from Keene State, Odiase said, “I don’t think our team would have gotten as far as we did without him,” he said. “He will be missed.”
The Athletic Director, Marty Testo declined to comment.
Molly Lu McKellar can be contacted
at mmckellar@kscequinox.com
