Jim Kehoe served as the athletic director at the University of Maryland from 1969 to 1978, during which time he was responsible for the hiring of future Hall of Fame coaches Lefty Driesell, Jerry Claiborne, Bud Beardmore, and Chris Weller.
13 Facts About Jim Kehoe
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Jim Kehoe enrolled at the University of Maryland in 1936 and competed in track and field, in which he excelled as a middle-distance runner.
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Jim Kehoe set school records in the two-mile run and 880-yard run.
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In 1969, Jim Kehoe resigned from his coaching positions to take over as the university's athletic director with the task of turning around the struggling football and basketball programs.
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Jim Kehoe took an unorthodox approach by hiring Roy Lester, a highly successful area high school coach, as Ward's replacement.
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Jim Kehoe stated his plans to make Maryland a "nationally ranked caliber team" and that the perennial losing and low attendance would make the athletic department unsustainable.
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Jim Kehoe appointed Jerry Claiborne as Lester's successor, who reversed the team's fortunes and won three consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championships in the 1970s.
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Jim Kehoe hired Chris Weller as the first Maryland women's basketball coach.
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Jim Kehoe resigned in 1978 after disagreements with university chancellor Robert Gluckstern.
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Jim Kehoe then took a temporary athletic department post at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.
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Jim Kehoe briefly returned to the Maryland post as interim athletic director in 1980 before retiring in 1981.
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In 1986, Jim Kehoe was inducted into the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame.
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Jim Kehoe died of cardiovascular disease on January 17,2010, at the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House in Prince Frederick, Maryland.