Steven Key returned to the Media Relations department in the Spring of 2023 as Director after serving as Assistant Men's basketball coach for 29 seasons. Key ended his run on the basketball staff as the longest active tenured assistant coach in NCAA Division I.
Key had been with former head coach Ron Cottrell from the beginning, first as a manager, then as a student-assistant before assuming his assistant position, spending 32 seasons overall on the sidelines with the Huskies. His duties included scheduling, recruiting, scouting, game preparation, and on-the-floor coaching.
In addition to his time on the sidelines, Key was also an integral part of the Sports Information department, where he spent nearly 15 years, first as a student assistant. He was director for seven years and associate director of athletic media relations for one year, before concentrating solely on his basketball duties when the Huskies returned to the Division I ranks in 2007-08.
Along with his wife Sherry, he was instrumental in creating the school's first athletic department website in 1997. It was one of the first standalone university athletic websites in the country and Key received several awards from the NAIA for his website expertise.
Key helped the 2016-17 Huskies to the program’s most successful campaign since returning to Division I as they went 17-14 overall and 12-6 in league play to tie for second and earn the fourth seed in the Southland Conference Tournament. HCU closed the regular season with nine-straight victories and reached postseason play for the second-consecutive year, receiving a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where the Huskies faced Campbell. In 2015-16, HCU participated in the College Basketball Invitational.
He was a key ingredient in the Huskies’ success of nine-straight conference championships and 10 consecutive NAIA national tournament appearances. He also was instrumental in the 2002-03 season’s history-making success and No. 1 national ranking.
A three-sport letterman in basketball, baseball and football at Calvary Baptist High School in Savannah, Ga., Key came to HCU from Valdosta State University where he was the head manager for the Blazer basketball team. He has been involved in almost every facet of the athletic department since his arrival in 1991.
A 1996 graduate of HCU with degrees in both History and Kinesiology, Key is married to the former Sherry Blakely, a four-year starter and letter-winner for the HCU softball team from 1992-95 and 2006 inductee into HCU’s Sports Hall of Honor. Sherry’s No. 6 jersey was retired by the softball team on April 21, 2012, becoming the first student-athlete in HCU history to be so honored. They are the proud parents of Eiley Rowan, a senior at Cinco Ranch High School who plays softball for the Cougars.
The Keys’ oldest daughter, Emma Claire, passed away May 15, 2010, shortly before her ninth birthday when the family was involved in a car accident while traveling in Louisiana. In her honor, the Key family established the Emma Key Hands and Feet Foundation in May of 2015. The HCU Alumni Association has also named the
“Emma Key Faithful Servant Award” in remembrance of her. Several stories were written nationally, including Andy Glockner's feature on SI.com about Emma and the Key family, which can be viewed
here.
The son and brother of Baptist ministers, Key continues to be active in his church, Kingsland Baptist in Katy, where he is a member of Joshua House ABF. After previously teaching first, second and third grade Sunday school, he and Sherry now teach a Wednesday night class at the church called
"Hope Unshakeable" for parents who have experienced the loss of a child.
