Keith Booth

{{short description|American basketball player and coach}}

{{about|the basketball player|the cricket writer and scorer|Keith Booth (scorer)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Keith Booth

| image = Keith Booth.jpg

| caption = Booth coaching in February 2017

| team =

| league =

| position =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lbs = 226

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|10|9}}

| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

| high_school = Paul Laurence Dunbar
(Baltimore, Maryland)

| college = Maryland (1993–1997)

| draft_year = 1997

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 28

| draft_team = Chicago Bulls

| career_start = 1997

| career_end = 2000

| career_position = Small forward

| career_number = 22

| coach_start = 2004

| coach_end = 2018

| years1 = {{nbay|1997|start}}–{{nbay|1998|end}}

| team1 = Chicago Bulls

| years2 = 1999–2000

| team2 = Baltimore Bayrunners

| cyears1 = 2004–2011

| cteam1 = Maryland (assistant)

| cyears2 = 2011–2013

| cteam2 = Loyola (Maryland) (women's assistant)

| cyears3 = 2013–2018

| cteam3 = Loyola (Maryland) (men's assistant)

| highlights =

• NBA champion ({{nbafy|1998}})
• Third-team All-American – AP, NABC (1997)
• First-team All-ACC (1997)
• Third-team All-ACC (1996)
• Second-team Parade All-American (1993)

| stats_league = NBA

| stat1label = Points

| stat1value = 130 (2.9 ppg)

| stat2label = Rebounds

| stat2value = 97 (2.2 rpg)

| stat3label = Assists

| stat3value = 39 (0.9 apg)

}}

Keith Eugene Booth (born October 9, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. Booth played college basketball at the University of Maryland from 1993 to 1997.{{cite web|title=Basketball Reference Keith Booth Bio|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boothke01.html|access-date=November 17, 2022}} He was an assistant coach at his alma mater under Gary Williams from 2004 to 2011. He was also an assistant coach for G. G. Smith with the Loyola University Maryland men's basketball team.{{cite web|title=Keith Booth Bio|url=http://www.loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/keith_booth_844926.html|publisher=Loyola University Maryland Athletics|access-date=April 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130912154102/http://www.loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/keith_booth_844926.html|archive-date=September 12, 2013|url-status=dead}}

Booth was born and raised in Baltimore and attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. While playing for Dunbar in 1992, the team won the high school basketball national championship and Booth was named a 1993 McDonald's All-American.[http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/content/dam/allamerican/pdfs/Player-Alumni-List-12-2013.pdf McDonalds All-Americans Games (pdf)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507101142/http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/content/dam/allamerican/pdfs/Player-Alumni-List-12-2013.pdf |date=2013-05-07 }}

Heavily recruited by coach Gary Williams, he was the first player from Baltimore City in several years to play for Maryland. After the resignation of Williams' predecessor, Bob Wade, due to NCAA violations, a de facto boycott of the university was put in place by the high-school coaches in Baltimore.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Because of this boycott, many star high-school players avoided Maryland as a choice to play their college ball. In becoming one of the members of Maryland's 1993 recruiting class, Booth broke the ice, and the school once again had access to talent-rich Baltimore City. While playing for the Terps, Booth led in free throws with 576 and had 1,776 points scored.

Booth was the Chicago Bulls' first-pick (28th overall) in the 1997 NBA Draft and played two seasons with the Bulls. Booth later returned to the Maryland campus and earned a bachelor's degree in criminology and criminal justice in 2003. After getting his degree, he worked at the Park School of Baltimore in Brooklandville, Maryland, where he was the middle school baseball coach. He also volunteered at an after-school program at his former high school, Dunbar.{{cite web|title=2010 ACC Men's Basketball Legends: Keith Booth, Maryland|url=http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/021110aaa.html|publisher=Atlantic Coast Conference|access-date=August 23, 2011}}

In 2004, he returned to his alma mater to become an assistant under Williams.{{cite web|title=Keith Booth |url=http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/booth_keith00.html |publisher=Maryland Terrapins |access-date=August 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813220057/http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/booth_keith00.html |archive-date=August 13, 2011 }} He organized recruiting as well as promoting and directing the Gary Williams Summer Basketball Camp each Summer in College Park. After Williams' retirement in 2011, Booth left Maryland when incoming head coach Mark Turgeon chose not to retain him.{{Cite web |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/basketball/mens/bal-keith-booth-former-maryland-star-added-to-loyolas-mens-basketball-staff-20130416,0,2969523.story |title=Markus, Don. "Keith Booth, former Maryland star, added to Loyola men's basketball staff," The Baltimore Sun, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. |access-date=April 16, 2013 |archive-date=June 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607003620/http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/basketball/mens/bal-keith-booth-former-maryland-star-added-to-loyolas-mens-basketball-staff-20130416,0,2969523.story |url-status=dead }}

In October 2011, Booth was named a women's basketball assistant coach at Loyola University Maryland.{{cite web|title=All-American, NBA Champ Booth Joins Women's Basketball Staff|url=http://www.loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/101711aab.html|publisher=Loyola Athletics|access-date=October 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401092429/http://www.loyolagreyhounds.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/101711aab.html|archive-date=April 1, 2012|url-status=dead}} He transitioned to the school's men's basketball team in a similar capacity on April 16, 2013. In May, 2019, Booth became head coach of Dunbar High School's basketball team, remaining at the helm of his alma mater's team until February, 2021.{{cite news|first=Glenn|last=Graham|title=Coming full circle, Keith Booth honored, excited to become Dunbar's boys basketball coach|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=May 23, 2019}}newspaper==The Baltimore Sun|date=May 22, 2020|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/high-school/bs-sp-va-keith-booth-dunbar-lawsuit-20200522-nxiij2pf4fhqvdbn5362wnsqca-story.html|access-date=November 17, 2022}{{subscription required}}