Could he be a D-I fit at a place like MU?

Good read.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8959...rutchfield

We've had some discussion on this over at HerdFans and on HerdNation... I think the consensus was he'd have issues recruiting at the D1 level...

I assume he has a ton of short pure shooters and runs some crazy offense that wouldn't work in D1?

Also, I edited the thread title becasue it wasn't letting me post due to its length... Weird bug.

(02-21-2013 04:26 PM)lmckay92 Wrote:  I assume he has a ton of short pure shooters and runs some crazy offense that wouldn't work in D1?

Also, I edited the thread title becasue it wasn't letting me post due to its length... Weird bug.

As far as I can tell, the system consists of a full press on defense, and a lot of long passes (and sprinting) on offense. It would be hard to get DI players to do that.

West Liberty is a tiny, tiny little school just north of Wheeling that plays in the WVIAC, a bunch of small WV schools for the most part. Now don't get me wrong, I used to live in Charleston and the annual WVIAC basketball tourney was a must see event every year. Cheap tickets and decent basketball.

But the jump from D2 in West Virginia to any D1 program seems like a huge step up, in my opinion. I'd like to see him assist somewhere first.

This is the last season for the WVIAC right? Mountain East Conference starts next year or the year after.

If you look at their roster, he is drawing players almost entirely from within a 1 hour radius of Wheeling. He's a local coach that plays a hair-on-fire style of basketball with local players that works well in his D-II league. He's basically in the perfect situation for him - he'll coach at West Liberty until he decides to quit coaching.

lmckay, yes, this is the last season of the WVIAC.

Btw, I found a book covering the WVIAC Basketball, more specifically the team from Alderson-Broaddus College and the small college basketball environment and how it's changed over the years with televised events increasing dramatically.

Cinderella Ball - A Look Inside Small College Basketball in West Virginia by Bob Kuska.

http://www.amazon.com/Cinderella-Ball-Sm...0803213921

No way would Crutchfield's system work in a good DI conference. He will work at at West Liberty until he retires or he wants to move on for a new challenge.

He has been talked about on HFs before but ultimately he was put in the same category of the now defunct NAIA Mountian State college basketball coach Bob Bolen. Good coaches at their levels. Just not woth the risk though.

Could he succeed at Marshall or the D1 level in general? I 100% believe so. I go to a lot of their games and watch this team in person. I have also been to Marshall games this year and I'm sorry to say it but West Liberty could definitely beat Marshall. They play great fundamental basketball, everyone can shoot the three, and they play full court press the whole game. They mainly come out when slacking on defense.

Marshall will never give him a chance cause our administration (and a lot of fans) think that we can do better. We would rather take a chance on some asst D1 coach as opposed to a proven coach at a lower level. Before Crutchfield was the Men's basketball coach he won 8 conference coach of the year awards and 11 conference titles in tennis. He is simply a good coach. http://www.hilltoppersports.com/coaches....ath=mbball


This team is undersized at the D1 level, but the guard play and fundamentals is awesome and the pace is incredible. They play tomorrow at 4pm. You can watch the game live if you go to http://www.hilltoppersports.com and follow the link, its free too.

(02-22-2013 07:13 PM)lmckay92 Wrote:  This is the last season for the WVIAC right? Mountain East Conference starts next year or the year after.

Yeah, I think that is right. From what I've read, they, plus much of the old WVIAC, created a new conference called the Mountain East

(02-23-2013 07:39 AM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  

(02-22-2013 07:13 PM)lmckay92 Wrote:  This is the last season for the WVIAC right? Mountain East Conference starts next year or the year after.

Yeah, I think that is right. From what I've read, they, plus much of the old WVIAC, created a new conference called the Mountain East

All the WVIAC schools that played football broke away to form their own conference. Only non football playing school who was invited to the new conference is Wheeling-Jesuit. They also added Va-Wise, Notre Dame College, and Urbana. It is rumored that Wheeling Jesuit is also starting football but hasnt been 100% confirmed.

AB has since also started football but still wasnt invited to the MEC. Them along with D&E and I believe Salem are joining the new G-MAC conference.

Back to coach Crutchfield though.... "Now a four-time WVIAC Coach of the Year with eight consecutive 20-win seasons under his belt, Crutchfield’s career record (207-43, .828) is No. 1 nationally among all active NCAA men’s basketball coaches at any level."

Keep in mind the team went 4-23 the year before he took over....The current seniors on the team have a combined record of 120-8.

(02-23-2013 10:44 AM)FlyHawk98 Wrote:  

(02-23-2013 07:39 AM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  

(02-22-2013 07:13 PM)lmckay92 Wrote:  This is the last season for the WVIAC right? Mountain East Conference starts next year or the year after.

Yeah, I think that is right. From what I've read, they, plus much of the old WVIAC, created a new conference called the Mountain East

All the WVIAC schools that played football broke away to form their own conference. Only non football playing school who was invited to the new conference is Wheeling-Jesuit. They also added Va-Wise, Notre Dame College, and Urbana. It is rumored that Wheeling Jesuit is also starting football but hasnt been 100% confirmed.

AB has since also started football but still wasnt invited to the MEC. Them along with D&E and I believe Salem are joining the new G-MAC conference.

Salem International is DIII now and has been for sometime. The WVIAC break up looks like this:

Alderson-Braddus- GMAC
Davis and Elkins- GMAC
Ohio Valley- GMAC

Bluefield College- DII Independent

Pittsburgh-Johnstown- PSAC
Seaton Hill- PSAC

Orig members from the WVIAC that will make up the MEC:

University of Charleston
Concord
Fairmont
Glenville
Shepard
West Liberty
West Virgina State
West Virgina Wesleyan
Wheeling Jesuit (no football)

Those entering the MEC from other places:

Notre Dame Cllege- GLAIC
Urbana- DII Independent
UV-Wise- Mid South

Its sortta sad seeing the WVIAC break up. It was the 2nd oldest conference in all of college sports no matter what level. It started in 1924. The only conferece older is the Southern Conference which started in 1921. And Marshall was in both.

Salem's still D2...

They're also joining the GMAC in 2013


Even if they wanted to drop to D3, there isn't really a conference convenient to them that would take them.