The questions began flying immediately after UNC Wilmington’s men’s basketball season came to a conclusion: would head coach Kevin Keatts stay put in Wilmington, or would he depart for greener pastures at a major college program?

In two seasons at the helm of what was once a struggling program, Keatts has posted a combined record of 43-22 (26-10 in CAA play), led the program to a pair of regular season conference championships and a CAA Tournament championship in 2016, and took the Seahawks to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006.

To top it off, he was the first coach to ever win back-to-back Coach of the Year awards in the Colonial Athletic Association. The coach who spent four seasons as an assistant under the legendary Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville has accomplished more in his two seasons than his predecessor, Buzz Peterson, did in his full four-year tenure.

Since the season wrapped, Keatts has only continued to wrack up awards and nominations. The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) honored him as its Coach of the Year in District 10 just this past week, as well as named juniors Denzel Ingram and Chris Flemmings to the all-District 10 teams.

Because of his success, Keatts’s name has begun to creep up in the national coaching conversation. The coaching carousel began to spin right around the time the Seahawks won the CAA Tournament, but Keatts has maintained a message of focus in regards to his status as Wilmington’s head coach.

“I try to do the best job I can do at whatever place I’m at,” said Keatts to StarNews Online. “I didn’t take this job at UNCW to use it as a stepping stone. I took it as a job because I like the place, I like the people around here and to be honest with you, I just want to do the best job that I can do for this place.”

Keatts’s contract, extended at the end of last year to help secure his future as a Seahawk, will deposit a base salary of $375,000 into the coach’s bank account next season, a $25,000 raise. Making over $100,000 in bonuses this year, he would not owe the university any money should he decide to leave as of the time this article is being written.

He mentioned recently how his main priority is to understand just how good the Seahawks can be in 2016-2017 in what is shaping up to be a weaker CAA. Graduations and transfers by top athletes around the league have only improved Wilmington’s chances of a three-peat.

Flemmings, Ingram and Jordan Talley will go into next year as the Seahawks’ core unit of production in both the backcourt and leadership, with plenty of experience.

Craig Ponder’s departure will be the only significant loss of consistent production from UNCW’s lineup in the coming year. Rising sophomore C.J. Bryce, along with transfer players Colton Bishop and JaQuel Richmond, will be expected to pick up where Ponder left off.