Edmonton, AB --Following up on his highly successful and award-winning first year as General Manager and Head Coach of the Edmonton Rush, Derek Keenan has been named the Inside Lacrosse Junior 'A' Coach the Year for the 2010 season.

In just a single summer of rebuilding the Whitby Warriors, Keenan turned the club from a team that missed the playoffs completely in 2008 and barely qualified in eighth place just one season ago, into one of the Ontario Lacrosse Association's premier organizations. The Warriors posted 17 regular-season victories to finish third overall behind only the Six Nations Arrows and Orangeville Northmen. The Keenan-led Warriors were the only team to beat Orangeville during the regular season while posting an impressive 10-1 home-floor record.

Keenan utilized a constant-press attack and capitalized on his players' athleticism to guide the Warriors up the OLA ladder and into contender position for the league championship. The Warriors went on to defeat the Brampton Excelsiors 3-2 in the OLA playoffs best-of-five quarter-final round before falling to Six Nations in the semifinals.

Keenan topped the other finalists for the award: Bruce Codd (Calgary Raiders), Curt Malawsky (Coquitlam Adanacs), Greg Rennie (Delta Islanders), and Matt Sawyer (Orangeville Northmen).

The 2010 lacrosse year has been an incredible campaign for Keenan. Prior to his Junior 'A' award, he received the nod as General Manager of the Year in the National Lacrosse League and was named co-winner of the NLL's Les Bartley Award for Coach of the Year alongside Washington's Chris Hall. Keenan guided the Rush to a franchise-best 10-6 regular-season mark, plus the team's first Champion's Cup playoff appearance in franchise history, and a West Division semifinal upset of the defending league-champion Calgary Roughnecks.