David Kiefer enters his sixth year as the head coach of the Southeastern Lions.
In 2023-24, he led the Lions to 15 wins, including another winning season in the Southland Conference as the team finished with a 10-8 record in SLC play. One of those Southland wins was a 77-74 victory against a McNeese team which was receiving votes in both major Top 25 basketball polls at the time of the game. Nick Caldwell & Roger McFarlane were both named All-Southland Conference, Caldwell on the First Team & McFarlane on the Second Team, & All-District by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Caldwell also snagged a Second Team All-Louisiana honor from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association while also being named the SLC's Student-Athlete of the Year.
During the 2022-23 season, he became the fastest head coach in SLU history to reach 50 wins when an 83-60 win at Lamar brought him to the milestone after 120 games at the helm of the Lions. The 2022-23 Lions won 18 games following a 19-win season in 2021-22, the first time Southeastern won 15 or more games in back-to-back seasons since 2017-18 and 2018-19. The Lions also earned at least one bye in the Southland Conference Tournament for the second straight season. At the end of the season, "Boogie" Anderson was named All-Southland Conference First Team.
In 2021-22, Kiefer joined Billy Kennedy (2004) as just the second coach in SLU program history to be named the Southland Conference's Coach of the Year. He guided the Lions to a 19-15 record for Southeastern's first winning season since 2018-19, a double-bye in the Southland Tournament and a berth in the conference tournament title game.
The Lions also received a bid to The Basketball Classic postseason tournament which was the third time in school history that the program had reached a national tournament (2005 - NCAA, 2018 - NIT).
The 2021-22 season also saw three players get selected to the All-Southland team, including Gus Okafor (1st team), Jalyn Hinton (2nd team) and Keon Clergeot (2nd team). Hinton was named Southland Defensive Player of the Year as well after leading the league in blocked shots with 81.
SLU also broke several school records during year-three of the Kiefer era. The Lions scored 2,679 points, made 302 three-pointers, shot 76.9 percent as a team from the free throw line and made an all-time program high 19 three-pointers in a win over Southeastern Baptist.
In his second season with the Lions, Kiefer guided SLU to the Southland Conference Tournament including a win over McNeese in the first round. During the campaign, SLU played one of the most challenging non-conference schedules in the Southland, playing nine straight games on the road to start the season. The road trip included games in six different states with contests at LSU, Texas A&M, Louisiana Tech, California Baptist, UAB, Grambling, Stephen F. Austin and Lamar.
The Lions defeated California Baptist in remarkable fashion erasing a 13-point deficit in the game's final nine minutes for an 81-80 win.
Under Kiefer, guard Keon Clergeot was fourth in the nation in free throws made (155) and free throws attempted (192). Clergeot was also second in the Southland in scoring during league games averaging 17.9 points.
In his rookie campaign as Lions' head man, Kiefer put a competitive squad together that battled their way through a 20-game Southland schedule with six freshmen, three juniors, two sophomores and just one senior. SLU lost six conference games by six points or less including two in overtime.
Kiefer was named the 13th head coach in program history July 2, 2019 following SLU's 12-6 finish in the Southland Conference and 17-16 overall record in the 2018-19 season. The Lions advanced to the Southland Conference Tournament for the 15th time before falling in the semi-finals to Abilene Christian, 69-66.
Prior to being named the Lions head coach, Kiefer served as an assistant on the SLU staff for four seasons, all under former head coach Jay Ladner. He was on staff when Southeastern won the Southland Conference’s regular season championship in 2017-18 as the Lions accrued a 22-12 overall record, going 15-3 in the Southland, giving SLU its first conference title of any type since 2004-05. Focusing mostly on guards as an assistant, Kiefer helped former Lion Marlain Veal develop into one of the best guards in the SLC as he ended his time in the green and gold as the program’s second-leading scorer as well as the all-time leader in both assists and steals.
Kiefer came to Southeastern following a stint in the Southeastern Conference at the University of South Carolina where he spent a year on Frank Martin’s staff as the team’s director of video services while also coordinating Martin’s summer basketball camps. While with the Gamecocks, he worked with Sindarius Thornwell, who spent three seasons in the NBA, including a stint with the New Orleans Pelicans. His full-time coaching career started on the collegiate level started in the junior college ranks at Jones County Junior College in Mississippi for the 2012-13 season before moving to Northwest Florida State College a year later. His coaching career also includes stops at Arlington Country Day High in Texas, as a volunteer video assistant at the University of Central Florida, and at St. Mary’s Ryken of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC).
While furthering his education, he served as a student assistant on the men’s basketball team at both Kansas State and Cincinnati. At KSU, he watched the development of Michael Beasley, who would be picked second overall in the 2008 NBA Draft and go on to spend 10 seasons in the NBA. Other players he worked with who went on to play in the NBA includes Cartier Martin, Bill Walker, and James White.
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Kiefer also assisted with two powerhouse AAU programs, the Florida Rams and the D.C. Assault.
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Kiefer graduated from Kansas State with a degree in social sciences in 2007, and he received his master’s degree from Salem International in 2013. Kiefer and his wife Mia have a son, Austin, and twin daughters, Kayden and Nola.
