Hall of Fame
Two-time NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year Jim Crutchfield took West Liberty’s men’s basketball program to unprecedented heights and was widely regarded as one of the nation’s top coaches at any level. At the time of his induction, his Hilltoppers were coming off their third straight NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance and he was carrying the nation’s highest winning percentage (241-45, .843) into his 10th season at the helm of the WLU men’s program.
Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers had led the nation in scoring seven times in the last eight years and were averaging more than 100 points a game throughout his nine-year run. They set an all-time NCAA Division II record in 2011 when they became the first team ever to make more than 500 3-point field goals in a single season.
Before taking over the basketball program, Crutchfield had a highly-successful run as WLU’s head men’s and women’s tennis coach, leading the teams to a combined 11 league titles and earning 8 WVIAC Tennis Coach of the Year Awards. A 5-time WVIAC Basketball Coach of the Year, the Clarksburg, W.Va. native was also a three-time winner of the West Virginia Sportswriters Association’s West Virginia College Coach of the Year Award.
