MEET JOHN KEAN Master of the NABC Division II Top 25 Poll If you’re a coach, administrator, player, player’s family member or simply a fan of men’s basketball in NCAA Division II, you might follow the detailed weekly postings of the NABC/ Division II Top 25 poll online each Tuesday. Surprisingly, it doesn’t come from the NCAA or the NABC, but is compiled and delivered by John Kean, the sports information director at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
“I just started working with John this year on the top 25 poll. He puts a lot of work into each week. I have been impressed with his attention to detail and the amount of information we have to work with. It really speaks to John’s desire to get the best top 25 poll for DII and his attention to detail. As a DII coach, I am thankful for how hard he works each week,” said Estepp.
Kean, one of the most respected sports information directors in collegiate athletics, does much of the work for the poll on his own time at home and does not get any remuneration for his efforts. He does it for his love of the game.
Roy Pickerill, longtime SID at Kentucky Wesleyan, collaborated with Kean to put together all the Division II polls since 1961, making sure that the information was meticulously detailed in a book and online.
A graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, Kean got his start in athletic communications as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, serving from 1986-89. After stepping away from collegiate athletics for a year, he was hired by Missouri S&T as its sports information director. Once back in the profession, Kean has had a storied career, was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2021 and has been a champion for men’s college basketball in NCAA Division II.
“John’s knowledge of everything in Division II basketball is unmatched, including teams that have moved up to the Division I level. He posts scores of games every night and coaches and conferences rely on that information.”
“The idea for the poll in its current state came about during the 2003-04 season while working with our then head basketball coach, Dale Martin,” Kean said. “The poll was being done by one person with the D2 Bulletin making all of the decisions. Coach Martin then asked me to coordinate a new poll.” Kean started with a group of eight coaches as selectors, one from each of the regions in NCAA Division II. That was expanded to have two coaches from each region and each Sunday night, Kean passes along the information and scores from the week’s games for the selectors to make their picks. “The group of selectors do a good job and I know it’s time consuming while they are preparing for their own games. Pretty much full weeks with all reporting,” Kean said. “I start compiling the data every Monday night, most of the time while home at night, and send out every Tuesday between 12 noon and 2 pm. It’s important to be consistent.” “On our Division II basketball page, coaches get a good feel for everything happening that week,” Kean said. “Some teams work their way in, and everyone can see who has beaten who and the strength of those wins.” https://campus.mst.edu/athleticarchives/hoops/ d2basketball/d2hoops.html Kean does not identify the coaches who volunteer to serve on the selection panel, especially so it does not interfere with the responsibilities of coaching their own teams. The selectors are allowed to acknowledge their own participation in the process. “I keep the selectors on as long as they are willing to participate. When someone wants/needs to drop off, I reach out to other coaches in the region,” Kean said.
Missouri S&T had a really good team in 1996 and during that season, Kean could not find anything on Division II basketball. He followed up in 1996-97, developing the Division II page on the Miners’ website. Over time, he has developed a more structured page with a comprehensive list of information. “John has done an incredible job for Division II basketball for a long time. His efforts on the website and our national polls have not gone unnoticed,” said Minnesota State head coach Matt Margenthaler, a NABC board member representing Division II. On a national level, Kean has held leadership roles with CoSIDA, serving as the D2SIDA president, College Division AtLarge representative and as a member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors. “It was important work with D2SIDA as we needed a means to concentrate on our own matters within our division,” said Kean. “John is one of the best in the business and someone who cares so much about his school, its student-athletes and NCAA Division II athletics. He’s been very active as a leader in CoSIDA. John also provided support in helping shape policies and procedures in NCAA Division II,” said CoSIDA Executive Director Doug Vance. “He always steps forward when asked to help in some project and his long-time involvement with the NABC Division II men’s basketball poll is an example of his unselfish commitment to provide guidance in projects outside his normal role.” Thankfully, Kean is not quite ready to retire and even when he is, he may continue with the poll and Division II page. “I still see myself doing this from home after retirement. Having the website and social media to get things out there now helps a great deal,” Kean said. “And there’s no deadline pressure.”
Patrick Estepp, head coach at Cedarville University and a NABC Division II board member, is in his first season on the selection panel.
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