Jim Crutchfield is heading into his 13th season leading one of the most high-profile NCAA Division II programs in the nation but the record-setting coach can’t stop raising the bar.
Crutchfield is coming off a spectacular 2016 season which saw him lead his high-flying Hilltoppers to their seventh straight conference title and the fifth NCAA Division II Elite Eight in the past six years – a run which culminated in a heartbreaking 103-102 loss to No. 1-ranked Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) in a nationally-televised Final Four thriller.
That marked West Liberty’s seventh consecutive “Sweet 16” run under Crutchfield and improved the Black and Gold’s NCAA Division II Tournament record to 24-8 (.750). That’s the highest NCAA Division II Tournament winning percentage for any current NCAA Division II program with five or more NCAA Tournament trips.
The Hilltoppers’ final 31-4 record – their fifth 30-win season in the past six years – pushed Crutchfield’s career record even further into the stratosphere at 331-57 (.853). That’s the highest winning percentage in college basketball history among coaches who have spent at least 10 seasons as an NCAA head coach.
When you consider that list is populated by such coaching icons as the late Adolph Rupp (3rd all-time) and John Wooden (7th), the West Liberty court boss finds himself at the head of a pretty illustrious class.
Crutchfield’s 2014-15 WLU squad had rolled to a sixth straight league title and “Sweet 16” berth but saw its bid for a fifth straight Atlantic Region title and Elite Eight berth short-circuited on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by eventual national runner-up Indiana (Pa.) in the Atlantic Region championship game to finish with a 28-4 record.
That came hot on the heels of a 2013-14 team which posted its fourth straight 30-win season (31-4) and became the first Atlantic Region team to win a regional title on the road when it traveled to No. 2-ranked East Stroudsburg (Pa.) and handed the Warriors an 89-82 loss on their home court. That earned WLU a trip to Evansville, Ind. where they eliminated Drury (Mo.), 85-75, in the national quarterfinals before holding off South Carolina-Aiken, 86-83, in a national semifinal. West Liberty led Central Missouri for much of the 2014 national championship game only to come up short at the end, 84-77.
The 2016 Hilltoppers checked in at No. 5 in the final NCAA Division II coaches’ poll for the second straight year, marking the seventh straight Top 10 finish for the program. West Liberty was 10th in 2010, 3rd in 2012, 7th in 2014 and a unanimous No. 1 pick in the final 2011 and 2013 polls.
The Hilltoppers’ 75 consecutive Top 10 rankings are just one shy of Grambling’s NCAA Division II record 76 consecutive Top 10 rankings from Jan. 5, 1961 to March 9, 1967 while WLU’s 96 consecutive Top 25 rankings are by far the most of any NCAA Division II program.
Crutchfield’s 2016 West Liberty team spent eight weeks as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and have been ranked No. 1 at some point in each of the past six seasons. The Hilltoppers’ 43 No. 1 rankings over that span are the most of any NCAA Division II program.
A 2-time NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year Selection (2011, 2013) by Basketball Times and a 3-time Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, Crutchfield is a 7-time winner of the WVIAC or MEC Coach of the Year Award. He was also honored as the West Virginia College Coach of the Year (all sports, all divisions) for four straight years (2011-14) by the W.Va. Sports Writers Association.
Crutchfield has known nothing but success since taking over the Hilltopper program prior to the start of the 2004-05 season. West Liberty was coming off a 4-23 campaign in 2004 but Crutchfield pulled off the biggest turnaround in the nation that winter, earning his first West Virginia Conference Coach of the Year honor with a 21-10 season that was capped by a run to the championship game of the WVIAC Tournament.
The Hilltopper head man never looked back and has now reeled off 12 consecutive 20-win seasons, topping the 30-win plateau on five occasions. To put those streaks in perspective, consider that West Liberty’s previous 15 head men’s basketball coaches had combined for a TOTAL of just two 20-win seasons since the first Hilltopper team dribbled onto the hardwood back in 1923.
Crutchfield was a men’s basketball assistant and highly-successful men’s and women’s tennis coach at West Liberty for several years before taking the basketball reins. He was an 8-time WVIAC Tennis Coach of the Year after leading his men’s and women’s teams to a combined 11 league titles.
The Clarksburg, W.Va. native also spent a decade as head boys’ basketball coach at Cameron (W.Va.) High School, ending his tenure there as the winningest coach in school history. He resides in Wheeling with his wife, Diana, and their daughters, Caroline and Allison.
JIM CRUTCHFIELD YEAR-BY-YEAR
Season W-L Pct. Highlights
2004-05. 21-10.. .677..... WVIAC Final
2005-06... 21-8.. .724
2006-07... 25-5.. .833..... NCAA Regional
2007-08... 23-6.. .793..... WVIAC semifinal
2008-09... 23-7.. .767..... WVIAC semifinal
2009-10... 29-3.. .906..... WVIAC champion; WVIAC Final; NCAA Regional final
2010-11... 33-1.. .971..... WVIAC champion; WVIAC Tourney champion; NCAA Regional champion; Elite 8 semifinal
2011-12... 32-3.. .914..... WVIAC champion; WVIAC Tourney champion; NCAA Regional champion; Elite 8 quarterfinal
2012-13... 34-2.. .944..... WVIAC champion; WVIAC Tourney champion; NCAA Regional champion; Elite 8 semifinal
2013-14... 31-4.....886.... MEC champion; NCAA Regional champion; Elite 8 championship game
2014-15....28-4.....875.... MEC champion; NCAA Sweet 16
2015-16....31-4.....886.... MEC champion; NCAA Sweet 16; Elite 8 semifinal
Totals 331-57 .853
