Kekoa McArdle stands tall as NEWMAC student-athlete of the year

Standing at a rugged 6-foot-8 with a signature headband to keep his wavy black hair in check, Kekoa McArdle ’25 has never been shy about making his presence known on the basketball court. The center/forward, a bruising rebounder with a passel of get-out-of-my-way power moves inside the paint, scored over 1,000 career points and helped lead Clark to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship in his senior year. 

This spring, NEWMAC named McArdle as one of four athletes as Student-Athlete of the Year. He was the only basketball player from the conference’s 12 schools chosen for the award, which is based on academic achievement, athletic excellence, and service and leadership. 

 “Kekoa truly set the standard for what it means to be a student-athlete, first and foremost in the classroom,” said men’s basketball head coach Tyler Simms. “On the court, he led and mentored our younger forwards, which will continue to help our program for years to come.”  

Trish Cronin, director of athletics and recreation, agreed. “Kekoa’s relentless work ethic and humility have made a lasting impact on our department, and this recognition by the NEWMAC is a testament to the kind of student-athlete and person he is.” 

McArdle, a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, native with a degree in psychology and a minor in management, transferred to Clark after playing at the University of Rochester in his first year. He was essential to the team’s year-to-year improvement over the past three seasons, culminating in a dominant 80–65 victory over WPI to take the NEWMAC title and earn Clark men’s basketball its first NCAA tournament berth since 2010.   

He describes his teammates as a “second family.” 

“We’d walk to classes together, hang out together,” he says. “Even in practices when things could get a little gritty and we’d go at it on the court, all that would get dropped when practice was over. At the end of the day, we were all friends.” 

And he’s not done playing. McArdle competed in several summer leagues across the state and has done intensive physical training to increase his chances of playing professionally overseas. He’s signed with an agency to pursue playing opportunities, including one in Britain, where he’s also interested in studying for a master’s degree. 

His choice to major in psychology at Clark was deliberate. 

“The idea of dealing with how the mind works—the different paths you can take, and the different ways people think and operate—really grabbed me,” he says. “All my professors are so invested, and they pull everything into their teaching.” 

McArdle and Clark teammate Chris Clarke ’27, with guidance from team mentor Nadia Ward, director of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, last year created a campus group where students could gather to meet new friends and have conversations about what’s going on in their lives—“the good and the bad,” McArdle says. The goal of the meetings, he notes, is to foster an open and welcoming forum for students to connect with one another on their terms.  

As he considers his next moves, on and off the court, McArdle is eyeing a possible career as a sports psychologist, noting that many pro sports teams retain a therapist for their players. 

For now, he carries his love for the game onto the courts of Massachusetts, and perhaps, one day, he’ll be posting up against professional players in a European league. But wherever McArdle winds up, he insists, “Clark will always be home.”