Marshall County’s Keith Bell retires with impressive coaching accomplishments
BENTON, Ky. (BVM) — After over 20 years of coaching underneath his belt, Keith Bell has officially retired from his respective coaching positions at Marshall County High School. Bell was the head high school boys golf coach for seven years (2013-2020) and held an assistant coaching position for the high school girls basketball team for five years (2016-2021).
In addition to coaching, Bell has taught common core math at the sixth-grade level for 11 years. His position as a sixth-grade math teacher at South Marshall Middle School allowed him to be a coach within Marshall County’s athletic programs. As he retires from coaching, this year also marks Bell’s last year in education.
Bell started coaching competitively when he lived in Memphis, Tenn. While he was there, he coached AAU competitive youth and middle school basketball for 15 years. When Bell’s life moved him to Benton, he wished to continue coaching within Marshall County Athletics.
“When I moved to Marshall County, I wanted to stay involved in coaching basketball,” Bell said. “I searched for a position and ended up helping coach the Benton Middle School girls for four years, and in that period, we won two district titles. A position on the high school girls staff came open and I was asked if I would be interested in joining the high school staff, so I did.”
Bell’s coaching successes in basketball helped put his name in the coaching considerations for the high school boys golf coach when it became available. In 2013, Bell accepted the position as the leader of Marshall County Marshals golf team.
During his seven years as the head coach of the Marshals, Bell led the program to three regional titles, three regional runner–up finishes, and five top 10 finishes in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Golf Tournament. He even helped coach Marshall County standout and soon–to–be Mississippi State golfer Jay Nimmo to back–to–back individual state championships in 2019 and 2020. Bell was recognized as Region One Coach of the Year three times and won the 2020 National Federation of State High School Associations State of Kentucky Boys Golf Coach of the Year.
As for his accomplishments with the Lady Marshals basketball team, Bell helped the girls program secure two district titles and two regional titles, with their most recent team finishing as the state runner–ups in the KHSAA girls state basketball tournament.
Bell’s coaching resume and accomplishments stand to be impressive. The last decade of his coaching career has brought a number of trophies back to Marshall County High School, but Bell says he does not necessarily measure his success by wins and losses.
“I think the one thing that makes me feel successful is when I see or hear from former players after their career is over who continue to stay in contact with me,” Bell said. “They share their successes and failures with me and want to keep me as a part of their life. Winning is every coach’s goal. However, preparing players to deal with the real-world problems that they will face is always on my list of things that I hope to accomplish.”
