There are many people out there who say they love football, but no one means it like Art Kehoe.
“I loved football from the first time I did it,” said the Pennsylvania native who has returned as the Hurricanes’ offensive line coach.
It all started in his hometown of Conshohocken with a youth team called the “Conshohocken Midgets.” As the son of a former football player and a cheerleader, it was only a matter of time until he would discover his passion for the sport.
“My mom signed me up for football when I was 7 or 8 and it was embarrassing because I didn’t even know how to get dressed and put on the pads,” Kehoe said. “[My mom] taught me how to do all that stuff.”
While the beginnings might have been humbling, Kehoe soon started to do what he would continue to do all his life: win.
“I think I played six years in that league and we won a championship four times,” he said. “We finished second the other two times.”
Kehoe attributed that success to the coaches he had during his early life.
“The coaching was fabulous, just basics of discipline and being on time, about doing your stretches as a team and caring about your teammates,” he said. “I learned those lessons from my father and mother and my coaches early in life. I think that’s the biggest thing that steered me toward coaching because I liked football and I liked the hitting aspect of it and I was coached really well at an early age and we won all the damn time.”
There is no doubt that Kehoe is a winner; after all, five national championships are no accident. Kehoe is a competitor at heart in everything he does. He may always be competing against another defensive line coach across the field during a game, but Kehoe has faced competition his whole career.
Before Kehoe came to the University of Miami as a transfer in 1979, he played football at Laney Junior College in Oakland, Calif. Even then, Kehoe knew when to seize an opportunity and how to fight for a dream. The undersized nose guard did not hesitate a bit when Miami was looking for players at that position. He sent his playing tapes to the UM coaching staff and described himself as 6 feet 2 inches and 250 pounds when he really was 6 feet and 230 pounds.