PAGE SIX THE _MICHIGAN DAILY SATURDAY, 20 MARflT1965 PAGE SiX THE MICHIGAN DAILY W;a.i . aaa la a f .vV 11LLl aLV 11 LOU,# a Keen: Dean of Big Ten Wrestling Russell's 28 Tops Wolverines (Continued from Page 1) By BOB CARNEY state's more popular wrestlers-a state champion named Cliff Keen In Oklahoma, where d u s t -left the land of the Sooners and storms plague farmers and foot- landed in the Michigan Law ball coacheskrun for the Senate, School, having decided on the wrestling iing. life of an attorney. When two good mat teams Keen got his law degree, but meet, as many as 15,000 fans may never tried a case. He's been be on hand, and a boy with good c o a c h in g Michigan wrestling high school training in the sport teams since that first year, and will receive more college offers has been as successful as any than an all-A student. coach in the country. About 40 years ago, one of the In that time, Keen has won more wrestling meets, 237, than any other Big Ten coach, and currently fields a team that has won 31 straight times. Two weeks ago, he was honored by the Big Ten for his 40 years of service, when the Big Ten championships were moved from Columbus, Ohio, to Ann Arbor. Third Straight Among" the gifts Keen received that day was his third straight championship, the 11th of his career. Five of his wrestlers cap- tured individual championships, as the Michigan team totaled a ree- ord 88 points. Keen, of course, cited "the great team effort" of his matmen as the key to the surprisingly- lopsided victory. But the "experts" attribute the Wolverines' success to a different source. "Michigan's had more success than any other team in the Big CLIFF KEEN Ten in recent years, and it's due almost entirely to Keen," says demonstrate a new hold or tech-; himself. "The value of wrestling Van Breda Kolff is a fiery kind Wisconsin coach George Martin, nique. is the lessons it teaches in self- of coach, yet at the same time whose Badgers fell to the Wolver- .At the meets, his manlier is discipline ami self-reliance I try easy-going and jocular. Between ines this year. similar, rising only occasionally to take in ) considerat ion the seizures of anger on the bench One of Keen's own wrestlers, from his seat, and rarely yelling. wrestler's singularity, and work when his face would turn a bril- who has been with the Michigan But his teams are aggressive, on individual techniques." he says liant crimson he would be joking coach for the past four years, determined and this year led the Complementing the traits thatj with his players on what he con- says "I could write a book about conference in number of falls. have'made Keen the coach he is, sidered to be horrendous or lu- the man. He's fantastic." Why? is a quick sense of humor In a dricrous calls by the referees. His Formula? Beneath Keen's serenity is a discussion of would-be oppor-cnis Sometimes he would get so pos- But how does a coach gain such firmness, that makes Pxterior earlier ".i the year. for exampic, itively furious at the refree that respect and such success over a harshness or excessive discipline Keen singled out one face and he would leap up off the bench period of 40 years in a sport that unnecessary. It is typified in some asked if the wrestler wasnI f-,a and then literally grab himself by has undergone the amount of advice Keen gave to one of his h s home state of Oklahoma 'I ne the knees before he raced on to change that wrestling has? "boys" after a season which answer was yes. "Thought so," the court. c , h. didn't show too much progress. snapped Keen with a big smile. The affable Dutchman thought "I've tried to coach in the din' s "He coes have that str-n, in- he had his share to yell about Michigan tradition as epitomizedi "You've got tomean busness- elig't look sn't he?" part cularly with the officiating. by Fielding H. Yost," says Keen,