Jennies Basketball Camps
Coaching Staff

Josh Keister
Assistant Coach 

Josh Keister begins his fifth season as the assistant coach for the Jennies basketball team and his 13th with Dave Slifer. The two were together for eight campaigns at Missouri Western State University from 1996-2004 in the same capacity.

Most recently, Keister served as an assistant coach at Division I Texas Christian University (TCU), where he helped the Lady Frogs to a 23-12 record and a second-place finish in the Mountain West Conference in 2007-08. Their 13-3 conference mark tied for the most league wins in program history. The team qualified for postseason play for the eighth straight year and reached the quarterfinal round of the Women's NIT. Included in the Frogs' WNIT run was a third-round victory over Texas Tech, marking their first-ever win over the Lady Raiders.

From 2004-07, Keister was the head coach at Missouri Western after taking over the position from Slifer. He was also an assistant coach from 1999-2004 and a graduate assistant for both the men's and women's basketball programs, both at MWSU and under Slifer.

In his tenure as graduate assistant and assistant coach for the Griffons, Missouri Western advanced to eight straight NCAA Division II Tournaments and averaged over 23 wins per season. During that time, the Griffons won two MIAA regular season championships, two MIAA postseason tournament titles and were ranked No. 1 in the nation twice.

Keister received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Mount Mercy (Iowa) College in 1996, where he was a two-year letterman. He also holds a master's degree in higher education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1999.

In his senior year at Mount Mercy, Keister helped the team achieve its best overall record in school history (29-6) and advance to the round of 16 in the NAIA Tournament. Keister holds all 3-point shooting records there, including career, single season and single-game marks. Prior to attending Mount Mercy, Keister played two seasons at Iowa Lakes Junior College.

Tammy Slifer
Assistant Coach

Tammy Slifer will be rejoining the coaching staff at UCM to continue her 16th season as an assistant coach for her husband. Previously (2010-2012), Tammy Slifer was the Head Girls' Basketball Coach at Warrensburg High School.

Prior to her role as assistant at Missouri Western, she was the head girls coach at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa from 1989 95.

Slifer received her bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University in 1985 and played collegiately at Black Hawk East Community College in Kewanee, Ill. and at Mount Mercy College. Her 1981-82 team finished second in the AIAW with a 24-11 overall record. She finished her career at Black Hawk East as the school’s all-time leading scorer.