Dement adds Crawford to staff

[PonyPride]

Crawford joins SMU basketball staff

Assistant has taken five teams to NCAA Tourney

From SMUMustangs.com
June 26, 2002

DALLAS (SMU) -- Coleman Crawford will join the SMU Men's Basketball staff as an assistant coach starting July 1, Head Coach Mike Dement announced today.

An accomplished assistant, Crawford joins the Ponies after spending the last five seasons as an assistant at Florida State.

Crawford has accompanied five teams to the NCAA Tournament and one to the NIT during his coaching career. In 1998, Crawford and FSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after a victory over TCU in the first round. He has also helped guide Akron, Tennessee and Tulsa into the NCAA Tournament.

At FSU, Crawford served as one of two primary recruiters in addition to his on-court coaching and administrative duties. He was an integral part of attracting the Seminoles' last two recruiting classes, both of which were ranked in the nation's top 25. FSU's 2000 class included a McDonald's All-American and three top-100 prospects.

Prior to his time in Tallahassee, Crawford assisted for two seasons at Tulsa, where he helped the Golden Hurricane to two NCAA Tournament appearances and the 1997 Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

He was the head coach at the University of Akron from 1990-95. During the 1989-90 season, his first at Akron, the Zips were 16-12 and fell just one win shy of tying the mark for the best record for a first-year Akron basketball coach. Crawford's teams also put together winning seasons in 1991 and 1992 with 15-13 and 16-12 records, respectively, and the Zips took second in the Mid-Continent Conference standings in 1992.

Prior to his appointment at Akron, Crawford was an assistant coach at Tennessee under Don DeVoe from 1986 through 1989. During his three seasons with the Volunteers, Tennessee earned bids to the 1988 NIT and 1989 NCAA Tournament.

Crawford was an assistant coach at Akron under current Cincinnati head coach Bob Huggins for three years (1984-86) and also held assistant coaching positions at Middle Tennessee State (1982-84) and Delta State (1979-82).

Crawford is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and is a frequent lecturer at coaching clinics around the nation as well, speaking about post player development.

Crawford was a standout player as a collegian. He was a two-time all-conference selection while at North Alabama in 1974 and 1975, and in 1974, he was named the conference Player of the Year. Crawford was inducted into the North Alabama Hall of Fame in 1993. He began his collegiate playing career at Seward County Community College in Kansas before transferring to UNA.

In 1975, Crawford earned his bachelor's degree from North Alabama in history
and secondary education. He earned his master's degree in administration
supervision in 1980 from Delta State.

Crawford and his wife, Elaine, have two sons, William (29) and Adrian (23).

"I am excited Coleman has decided to join us," said Dement. "He knows our league well with his success at Tulsa and brings a wealth of experience to our program in both recruiting and competing at the highest level. I could not be more pleased with the way our staff is developing."

[MustangMan]

From everything I've read, Crawford is an amazing recruiter. FSU has had some great recruits the last couple of years, and from what I've seen, Crawford is the reason why.

[Silk]

Before he declared for the draft out of high school, Seattle Supersonics forward Rashad Lewis had Florida State as one of his final two choices -- and he was quoted at the time as saying Crawford was the reason why.

Can he work the same magic here?