Northern New Mexico College’s men’s basketball assistant coach is headed back to his alma mater after three years (two full seasons) at Northern.
Billy Keys is leaving Northern to become a video coordinator at New Mexico State University, where he was an all-conference player and led the Aggies to a conference championship in 1999.
Originally from Chicago, Keys started as an assistant at Northern in 2019.
“He brought a lot of knowledge in regards to the game of basketball,” said Northern head coach Ryan Cordova. “He played for some great coaches. And he was able to relate to the student-athletes really well, and understand where they were coming from being a college basketball player himself.”
At NMSU, Keys played under longtime coach Lou Henson, a hall-of-fame coach who currently ranks as the 16th-winningest coach in men’s college basketball history.
Before joining Northern, Keys was the head coach for Mayfield High School in Las Cruces.
Keys was with NBA teams for summer league and training camp, but never entered an official game. His international career included stops all across Europe, at one of which he overlapped with current Northern women’s head coach J.R. Giddens in Greece.
“It’s a great opportunity for him,” Cordova said. “It’s going to be a very different position being the video coordinator there. But I’m sure he’ll work his way up quickly.”
Cordova said that Keys recruited really well for the program.
As of now, Cordova said, the assistant men’s coach position is still open.
Keys said his favorite memory at Northern was going to the conference tournament this year, where the Eagles were an overtime period away from reaching the final which would have guaranteed a spot in the national tournament.
“I think that experience was awesome,” Keys said, “Not just for me but for the players there as well.”