In an expected move, Easton announced the hiring of Corey Keener as their next head wrestling coach today. Keener replaces Jody Karam, who retired after five seasons at Easton and over thirty as a high school head coach. Keener was hired as Karam’s top assistant five seasons ago, and has been groomed as Karam’s successor.
As an athlete, Keener is District 11’s all time leader in wins with 190. He won a pair of state championships and was a three-time state finalist for Blue Mountain, while leading the Eagles to their only trip to state duals in 2009. After high school, Keener wrestled for Tom Borelli at Central Michigan, where he was a three-time NCAA qualifier. He used his final year of eligibility as a graduate transfer at Penn State, where he qualified for a fourth NCAA tournament and helped the Nittany Lions win a team national championship. Keener also won Fargo and University national titles in freestyle.
Keener initially joined the staff at Pottsville in 2019, where his dad is the head coach. He was hired to teach gym at Easton Area Middle School and take the top varsity assistant job in 2021. He has been in charge of running technique development and the offseason Gold Medal Wrestling Club for the Red Rovers. Keener has been instrumental in the development of the lightweights, particularly 2025 state championship Nick Salamone.
Again, not an unexpected hire, and a lot of time and energy has spent with coaching legends Jody Karam, Steve Powell, and Barry Snyder showing Keener the finer points of running his own program. This has definitely been an apprenticeship. He will certainly put his own stamp on things, and it’s a big move one seat over on the bench, but he’s been put in position to succeed. He also returns a state champ, five state qualifiers, and is bringing in maybe the best freshman class in the state. Keener should be in position to succeed right away. I would love to see him hire a younger upper weights coach (pry alum Tyler Greene away from Freedom?) which they haven’t really had since Ryan Cummins left to take the State College job a decade (or more?) ago. He also needs to figure out the system to get more medalists on the podium in Hershey - this year they should really have five. But that’s his maze to navigate now. Good luck!
As an athlete, Keener is District 11’s all time leader in wins with 190. He won a pair of state championships and was a three-time state finalist for Blue Mountain, while leading the Eagles to their only trip to state duals in 2009. After high school, Keener wrestled for Tom Borelli at Central Michigan, where he was a three-time NCAA qualifier. He used his final year of eligibility as a graduate transfer at Penn State, where he qualified for a fourth NCAA tournament and helped the Nittany Lions win a team national championship. Keener also won Fargo and University national titles in freestyle.
Keener initially joined the staff at Pottsville in 2019, where his dad is the head coach. He was hired to teach gym at Easton Area Middle School and take the top varsity assistant job in 2021. He has been in charge of running technique development and the offseason Gold Medal Wrestling Club for the Red Rovers. Keener has been instrumental in the development of the lightweights, particularly 2025 state championship Nick Salamone.
Again, not an unexpected hire, and a lot of time and energy has spent with coaching legends Jody Karam, Steve Powell, and Barry Snyder showing Keener the finer points of running his own program. This has definitely been an apprenticeship. He will certainly put his own stamp on things, and it’s a big move one seat over on the bench, but he’s been put in position to succeed. He also returns a state champ, five state qualifiers, and is bringing in maybe the best freshman class in the state. Keener should be in position to succeed right away. I would love to see him hire a younger upper weights coach (pry alum Tyler Greene away from Freedom?) which they haven’t really had since Ryan Cummins left to take the State College job a decade (or more?) ago. He also needs to figure out the system to get more medalists on the podium in Hershey - this year they should really have five. But that’s his maze to navigate now. Good luck!
