Long live “Keim Time.” Longtime PLU, UPS football coach dies of cancer
In 2004, Jud Keim returned home. The all-conference running back for Pacific Lutheran University’s football program throughout the mid-1980s joined the coaching staff two decades after his playing days, and “Keim Time” was exactly what the Lutes needed.
Keim didn’t step foot on campus — he “kicked the door in” with unmatched energy, developing people first and players second, former Lutes defensive back and current Enumclaw football coach Mark Gunderson told The News Tribune.
“We’d run through a wall for him,” Gunderson said Tuesday, recalling his senior season when Keim arrived to serve as PLU’s defensive backs coach. “We needed a spark on that side of the ball at PLU, and he was all of that and more.
“And he never turned it off.”
Following a local coaching career that spanned more than three decades, the South Sound lost the longtime PLU defensive coordinator after a battle with cancer, the school announced Tuesday. He was 62 years old.
Keim spent two decades (2004-2023) coaching his alma mater before a brief, one-year stint at Lewis & Clark College in 2024. He joined the University of Puget Sound’s staff as co-defensive coordinator in the spring of 2025.
PLU head coach Brant McAdams knew Keim for the better part of 15 years, first as an opponent and again as a comrade. McAdams, who coached at UPS from 2010-12 and Trinity University in San Antonio from 2013-17, coached in six games opposite Keim before the pair united on the Lutes sidelines in 2018.
“Vigor, passion, energy, enthusiasm,” McAdams remembers. “He always brought everything he had, just his energy and passion for the players, the game, and the program.
“He lived authentically. He was always himself. He never tried to be anyone else. He lived the example and took the time to love (his) kids and help them grow.”
Keim graduated from PLU in 1986, a four-year letter winner in football (two-time all-conference) and track and field for the Lutes, and earned his master’s degree in Athletic Administration from Minnesota State University-Mankato in 1999. An avid sports fan, he was a regular on the high school recruiting trail, working football and track camps and networking with local coaches.
He embraced the concept that football was more than a game, but an outlet to develop great athletes into even better people — something he embraced from the start of his playing career under legendary PLU head coach Frosty Westering, who took the Lutes to eight Division II national championships and won four between 1972-2003.
Gunderson carries that tradition for his next generation.
“I’ve played for (great) coaches… Coach (Keith Ross, Sumner) and (Keim), Frosty… those are the kinds of coaches that you want to be for your kids.”
Keim is survived by his wife, Sari, a 1987 PLU graduate, and their two children — daughter Kalen and son Jace, both Lutes alumni. Jace played for the PLU football program from 2018-22.
“Coach Keim was with us for only a short time, but his legacy will last much longer,” UPS Director of Athletics Chelsea Herman and University Chaplain Dave Wright wrote in a statement. “The values he lived by, the care he showed to others, and the way he modeled belief and purpose — these legacies will continue to resonate here at Puget Sound and far beyond. As we go through this time of loss together, may his memory always be a blessing.”
The University of Puget Sound will release details regarding a service to celebrate Keim’s life once available. Those who would like to send a card to the Keim family can do so at UPS, collected in the Athletics Department offices on the second floor of the Athletics and Aquatics Center or at the Dean of Students’ Office (WSC 208).
“It was always Keim Time,” Gunderson said. “You knew when it was Keim Time. His energy, his passion… that’s something I’ll never forget.”
