Chris Croft - Men's Basketball Coach

Chris Croft

Title:
Assistant Coach

Chris Croft was named an assistant coach in Aug. 2016
after serving the two previous seasons as the director
of basketball operations.
A native from Louisville, Mississippi, Croft reunited
with Doc Sadler after serving on his staff at both UTEP and
Nebraska. Croft has assisted Sadler in reaching postseason
play in four of the years he has worked with him.
Croft has a wealth of both coaching and administrative
experience with over eighteen years in college basketball.
He has been a member of teams in the Big 12, PAC 10, Big
Ten, and CUSA on three occasions. Additionally, he was a
head coach at the NAIA level.
Croft broke into the coaching profession as an
undergraduate student assistant at East Central Community
College in 1991-93. While at ECCC, he was part of a state
championship team and the squad made two regional
tournament appearances. Croft then assisted Coach M.K.
Turk at Southern Miss as an undergraduate student manager
with both teams advancing to the Metro Conference
Championship game and to the NIT. He was then named a
graduate assistant coach at the age 22 in 1995 which was
the inaugural year of CUSA.
Croft then moved to the Big 12 Conference under Coach
Eddie Sutton as an administrative assistant at Oklahoma
State before the 1996-97 season. In two seasons with
the Cowboys, Croft helped OSU to a pair of postseason
appearances, including the second round of the 1998
NCAA Tournament. He moved on to Maryland Eastern
Shore for one year in a recruiting capacity before spending
four seasons at Washington State including the last year
in a recruiting role. Croft gained international coaching
experience as he was the head coach for the Planet
Basketball All-Star team that toured New Zealand in the
summer of 2001.
In 2003, Croft was named head coach at Martin
Methodist College at the age of 30. Croft’s first squad won
22 games and grabbed the TranSouth Conference title, the
first in school history, while also advancing to the NAIA
Tournament. He was the first coach in league history to win
a championship in his initial season as a head coach, and
also was the youngest head coach in league history to win
the championship. He led his team to 13 road wins to rank
second nationally across all divisions of four-year colleges.
Croft’s team led the conference in scoring defense, as he
coached four all-conference players and seven academic
all-conference student-athletes.
Croft began his association with Sadler in 2005 at UTEP
as a program specialist. He oversaw several administrative
areas for the Miners, as the squad reached the NIT in 2006
after being one of the top teams in CUSA.
He then followed Sadler to Nebraska as director of
basketball operations in 2006. He also served as a full-time
recruiting and coaching spot during his tenure. Croft helped
lead Nebraska to three NIT postseason appearances.
After that, he spent time as an Assistant Professor of
Sport Management at the University of Southern Indiana.
This opportunity was afforded due to his ability to receive
his doctorate degree on the side and combined with his
hands-on coaching and administrative experience.
Croft earned his bachelor’s degree in coaching and
sports administration from Southern Miss in 1995 and
received a master’s degree in human performance in
1996. Croft completed his doctoral degree in educational
leadership and administration through UTEP in 2008. Croft
is married to Terri Batterman from Delmont, S.D.