Steven Keith is new head coach of Thayer wrestling

Thayer Academy has named Steven Keith as head coach of its coed varsity wrestling program. 

Keith is joined by assistant coach John Geary, who is also new to the program, and longtime assistant coach (and Upper School World Languages Faculty) Marc Rando P ‘18, ‘20. 

Keith returns to Thayer after serving as the assistant coach for the 2020-21 wrestling season. Prior to Thayer, he spent eight years coaching at the collegiate level with Stanford University, Brown University, New York University, and Johnson & Wales University. In those roles, Keith coached six Division I NCAA Championship qualifiers and 16 Division III NCAA Championship qualifiers. 

Keith is a graduate of Harvard University, Class of 2013. He was named an NCAA Division I All-American in 2012; he was also a four-time championship qualifier and a two-time NCAA Division I Academic All-American. Keith served as Harvard’s team captain for the 2013 season, and his 107 career wins land him seventh in school history. 

Outside of wrestling, Keith also has extensive experience in nonprofit management. He served as executive director of Beat the Streets Providence from 2016 until 2018 and program director of Beat the Streets New York from 2019 until 2020. 

Geary first joined Thayer’s coaching staff in the spring of 2021 when he served as an assistant coach for both the girls and boys crew teams. He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University, where he started his rowing career as a walk-on coxswain. He eventually became the varsity heavyweight coxswain, and his crew won a bronze medal at the 1996 Dad Vail Regatta, the largest collegiate regatta in North America. 

Geary, who lives in Hanover with his wife and four children, wrestled in the early 1990s for Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware. More recently, he co-founded Hanover Youth Wrestling in 2010 and has a history of coaching youth-level wrestling in that town. Geary helped to build Hanover Youth Wrestling from 12 wrestlers to one of the largest youth wrestling programs in Massachusetts.

Keith and Geary will coach in concert with Rando, whose experience with the program goes back decades. Rando earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature from Colby College in 1989 and immediately joined the Thayer faculty. In addition to the wrestling program, Rando previously served as an assistant coach to the Academy’s football teams. 

Thayer’s wrestling program is one of 13 that compete in the Independent School League (ISL) and is a member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC). The team’s comprehensive schedule comprises ISL and other NEPSAC opponents. 

Thayer Wrestling Steven Keith

Steven Keith. 

Thayer Wrestling John Geary

John Geary

Thayer Wrestling Marc Rando

Marc Rando P '18, '20