When Chris Crutchfield was hired as Omaha men’s basketball coach in March 2022, he implemented the same program-building playbook his old boss, Lon Kruger, had used at Oklahoma.
“He gave us all the blueprint of how to build a program from the ground up,” Crutchfield said of Kruger. “And it starts with people, man. It starts with good people, good kids that are competitors.”
From nine wins in Crutchfield’s first season at Omaha to 15 wins in his second, the Mavericks went 22-13 this season and won the Summit League championship.
For the first time in their brief 14-year history as a Division I program, the Mavericks are playing in March Madness. No. 15 seed Omaha will open NCAA Tournament play against No. 2 seed St. John’s at 8:45 p.m. Thursday (CBS) in Providence, Rhode Island.
Crutchfield spent eight seasons at OU as a Kruger assistant. The Sooners made six NCAA Tournaments during that span, including a Final Four run in 2016. Crutchfield played a key role in recruiting Buddy Hield, the star of that 2016 team. Crutchfield also recruited former Norman North standout Trae Young.
Crutchfield left OU in 2019 to work under Eric Musselman at Arkansas. When COVID hit in March 2020, Crutchfield’s sons Jalen and Josh, who had been playing college basketball at Stetson and Northern Oklahoma College respectively, moved back in with Mom and Dad.
The Crutchfields spent more time together over those next few months than they had in the last several years. Chris Crutchfield didn’t want to let go of that.
“You know what?” he thought. “I might as well go coach my kids.”
Crutchfield made some calls and landed the head coaching job at Division II East Central in Ada. Both Jalen and Josh transferred there to play for their dad.
In what seemed like an odd career move from the outside, it reinvigorated Crutchfield.
“I took a huge pay cut,” he said with a laugh, “went down and coached my kids, and it was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
After one season at East Central, Crutchfield got a call from Oregon coach Dana Altman. Altman wanted to hire Crutchfield as an assistant coach, and Crutchfield couldn’t resist rejoining the Division I ranks.
Little did Crutchfield know that Omaha, his alma mater, would call a year later with an even better offer. A Division I head coaching offer.
“I never thought it would happen,” Crutchfield said. “It came out of nowhere.”
Crutchfield was a two-sport standout growing up in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He played junior college football in Minnesota before Omaha offered him a scholarship to play Division II football. Crutchfield also played basketball for the Mavericks.
“I probably thought I was a better football player, but growing up in Kentucky, my first love was basketball,” Crutchfield said.
When Crutchfield returned to Omaha as the head men’s basketball coach, the Mavericks were coming off back-to-back five-win seasons.
It was time to rebuild, just as Kruger had done at OU in the wake of Jeff Capel’s exit.
Crutchfield focused on recruiting high schoolers and junior college players with three years of eligibility left.
“That was the timeframe we gave ourselves, three to four years to be relevant,” Crutchfield said. “It worked out pretty good.”
Crutchfield’s first recruiting class included forward Marquel Sutton, a Tulsa Rogers graduate who transferred to Omaha from Connors State. Sutton, a junior, was just named Summit League Player of the Year.
Norman North’s JJ White was also a part of Crutchfield’s inaugural class. White played one season at Colby Community College in Kansas before transferring to Omaha.
“We could’ve taken a bunch of high-major transfers my first year, but I wanted guys that were gonna be excited about being in Omaha,” Crutchfield said.
He refers to Sutton and White as “Day 1 guys.”
“We’re very intentional about the culture that we’ve built,” Crutchfield said. “We talk about everybody on our team having value … Obviously, their roles are different, but everyone has value and we talk about it every day. We make them feel good, feel important.”
The Mavericks, who have gone viral for their postgame trash-can beating celebrations, are a tight-knit team.
“They’re connected like no other group I’ve ever been around in my whole coaching career,” Crutchfield said.
Crutchfield, still getting used to life as a head coach, doesn’t go a week without talking to Kruger, who retired from OU after the 2021 season.
“He’s been a mentor to me, been like a father figure to me,” Crutchfield said. “Anytime I have a question or concern about something, I always call him.”
Kruger was the first coach to lead five schools to the NCAA Tournament.
Crutchfield is a first in his own right. The first coach to take Omaha to the Big Dance.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Omaha vs. St. John’s
TIPOFF: 8:45 p.m. Thursday at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I. (CBS)