In eight seasons as head coach at Muhlenberg College, Alexa Keckler has established the program as an annual contender for the Centennial Conference championship.
Keckler has a record of 141-96 (.595) at Muhlenberg and an overall mark of 237-151 (.611) in 12 years. She reached the 100-win mark as Mule head coach with a 3-0 sweep of Widener in 2016 and notched her 200th overall win two weeks later vs. McDaniel.
Keckler is third in CC history with 88 wins in league matches and fourth with seven wins in CC playoff matches. Her 237 total wins are eighth in CC history.
Just three seasons after tying for last place in the CC, the Mules won 20 matches and advanced to the CC championship match for the first time in 12 years in 2013. The following season, Muhlenberg reached the final again in a landmark season that saw the program win 25 matches, set the school record for longest winning streak (13), receive votes in the national poll for the first time ever and crown its first All-American in 10 years.
The 2017 team also received votes in the national poll and earned the program's highest NCAA regional ranking (fifth) ever.
Inheriting a young, rebuilding team, Keckler coached the Mules to a 6-21 record in her first season, including four wins in their last six matches. In 2011, Muhlenberg improved to 10-18 and came within one win of earning a CC playoff berth. The Mules took two of the five CC playoff teams to a fifth set. The following year, Muhlenberg posted the second-best improvement in program history, going 17-11 with a roster that included two all-conference freshmen.
Keckler came to Muhlenberg in 2010 after five years as head coach at CC rival Gettysburg, where she compiled a record of 96-55 (.636), including a 40-10 (.800) CC mark. The Bullets posted at least 18 wins in each of her five seasons and captured their league-best 11th CC championship in 2005. In 2008, Gettysburg was 9-1 in the CC, earning the right to host the conference playoffs.
Before taking over at Gettysburg, Keckler piloted her alma mater of Smithsburg (Md.) High School to an 18-2 record in 2002 and guided Littlestown (Pa.) High School to an 18-5 mark and a district playoff appearance in 2004. In between those assignments, she served as head coach of the Tri-State FCA Volleyball Club’s 15-and-under girls team, leading that squad to a 49-25 record in 2003-04.
An all-region most valuable player and junior college All-American at Hagerstown Community College, Keckler earned her associate’s degree in 1998 before graduating from Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) University with a bachelor’s degree in sports and exercise science in 2000. She was a two-year letterwinner with the TNU volleyball program, earning TranSouth Athletic Conference academic honors both seasons.
She acquired a master’s degree in human performance from Frostburg State University in 2002 and also has CAP 2 coaching certification from USA Volleyball. In addition to her coaching duties, she has served as the director of the Mid-Maryland Volleyball Camp since 1996.
Keckler and her husband, Drew University men’s basketball head coach Darryl Keckler, have three daughters, Olivia, 10, and Camryn, 6, and Mallory, 3, and a son, Maddox, 3.
