Keiton Page has been promoted to assistant basketball coach of the Oklahoma State University Cowboys, the school announced
last week.
Page, known as the Pawnee Pistol, was a standout basketball player for the Pawnee Black Bears from 2005 to 2008, winning two state championships and setting scoring records. After high school, Page played point-guard for the Cowboys.
“In 2008, I was offered a scholarship to my dream school,” Keiton said. “I played alongside some amazing teammates. Now, I’m truly blessed to be coaching for my alma mater.”
Keiton said that he is thrilled to be a part of this coaching staff.
“I couldn’t be working for a better person than coach Mike Boynton,” he said.
Prior to his promotion, Keiton has spent the last six seasons as the Director of Player Development.
To those who know of the Page family, Keiton’s promotion to the coaching position was inevitable. The Pages are one of the most successful basketball families in Oklahoma’s history.
The story of the Page family can be traced back to Cleveland, where Keiton’s father, David, was a three-sport standout for the Tigers. David Page played quarterback, second baseman and point guard. When he graduated in 1975, he held the basketball records for the most points scored in a game, a season, and a career.
After college, David entered the coaching profession. He coached 10 years in Blackwell, and then he accepted the head coaching position in Hominy David guided the Bucks to the state tournament for the first time in 10 years. From there, David coached for six seasons in Yale, where he won the state championship twice.
Keiton’s older brother, Brady, was the star of that team. By the time Brady graduated for years, later, he held every scoring record and eventually had his jersey retired. He played at Oklahoma Christian College from 2002 to 2006, as the starting at point guard. Brady was a three-time All-Sooner Athletic Conference pick. After college, Brady joined his father in Pawnee, where he was an assistant coach for three years.
In 2005, David took the reins of the Pawnee Black Bears basketball team. That. year, Pawnee won the Class 2A state title with a 97-79 win over Oklahoma Christian. Keiton, a freshman, scored 54 points in that game.
“That was a great group of kids,” David said. “Keiton came in as a very good freshman and the team accepted him. That season started it all for us in Pawnee.”
In 2008, Keiton’s senior year, Pawnee won another state championship. That year, Keiton set a single-season state scoring record of 1287 points, and was named Oklahoma’s player of the year, by the Oklahoman, and Co-player of the year by the Tulsa world. He was twice named one of the top-five players in the state, regardless of class, by the Oklahoman.
Pawnee’s record during Keiton’s four-year career was 98 wins with only 13 losses, an 88.3 winning percentage.
While that would have been a storybook ending, the Page story was just beginning.
Pawnee won state titles again in 2009 and 2010.
Keiton was offered a scholarship for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he became one of the school’s most successful players.
Page saw action at Oklahoma State immediately, coming off the bench early in the season, then starting the final 12 games. The following year, he started 31 of 33 games, averaging 10.7 points per game.
He averaged 13.2 points per game as a junior, and 17.1 points per game as a senior, shooting an amazing 39% from three-point range. By the end of his four-year career, Keiton had scored 1651 points, tenth most on Oklahoma State’s all-time list.
After his playing career ended, Keiton became a graduate assistant for the Cowboys, then assumed the responsibilities of the director of player development six years ago.
While Keiton was in college, Brady accepted the head coaching position in Hennessey. In typical Page fashion, Brady built a winning program. His teams regularly play in state tournaments, and he is winning coach of the year honors.
David has now retired from his responsibilities as head coach, and now assists Brady in Hennessey. He was a head coach for 36 years. He won six state titles and was named Coach of the Year four times. Of course, he is a member of the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
“We have a pretty good coaching tree,” David said.
The Page Coaching tree has deep roots in Cleveland and Pawnee.
“Pawnee contributed to my success tremendously,” David said.
Keiton, the newest coach for the Cowboys, agrees.
“Pawnee was great to me and my family. I played at a great school with amazing teammates. Pawnee welcomed me from the beginning.”
Pawnee and Cleveland, it seems, are important chapters in the Pages of Oklahoma basketball history.
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