FAYETTEVILLE -- Chris Crutchfield moved up the NCAA Division I ranks as an assistant basketball coach the past 20 years with stops at New Mexico State, TCU, Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma and the University of Arkansas.
With each move, Crutchfield said, he got a pay raise and believed he was improving his chances of landing a Division I head coaching job.
"My goal has always been to be a Division I head coach," Crutchfield said. "That's what I've been working towards and chasing."
Crutchfield is now a college head coach at a four-year school for the first time, but it's at the Division II level.
Earlier this week East Central (Okla.) -- which is located in Ada, Okla., and plays in the Great American Conference -- announced Crutchfield as the Tigers' new coach.
Crutchfield said he wasn't looking to leave Arkansas after one season working on Coach Eric Musselman's staff as the Razorbacks' associate head coach, but he decided the move to ECU was the right decision for him and his family.
"This will provide me with a better work-life balance, because I knew my life was out of balance," Crutchfield said. "I knew I needed to do things differently.
"It's not just me, it's every coach at [the Power 5 conference] level. What happens is your family ends up getting punished in this process for you to be able to chase your dreams as a coach. It's not fair to your spouse. It's not fair to your kids. I just kind of got to the point where I said, 'You know what? I've got an opportunity to make a change, and I'm going to do it.' "
After eight seasons at Oklahoma on Coach Lon Kruger's staff, Crutchfield left to accept a two-year contract at Arkansas that paid him $360,000 annually.
Crutchfield said he is taking a pay cut at East Central -- though he wasn't specific about his salary -- but that his decision wasn't based on money.
"A lot of people might not understand what I'm doing, but I don't have a have a big ego, and I don't worry about someone else's expectations," Crutchfield said. "This move is about my family and getting to spend more time with my wife and kids."
Crutchfield will get to spend a lot of time with two of his sons, Jalen and Josh, at ECU. They're all going to be on the same team.
Jalen and Josh Crutchfield have not yet signed with the Tigers, so their father would be violating NCAA rules if he commented to a reporter about coaching them.
But Jalen Crutchfield, a 6-4 guard who played at Stetson University in Florida the past two seasons, announced on Twitter that he and Josh Crutchfield will play at East Central.
"Crutchfield brothers COMMITTED," Jalen Crutchfield wrote with a photo of the brothers and an ECU Tigers logo.
Jalen Crutchfield, who has two years to play for his father's team, had planned to transfer from Stetson to the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond before switching to East Central.
"Since I was a little kid, it has always been a dream of mine to play for my dad," Jalen Crutchfield posted on Twitter. "It feels like now my dreams are starting to come true."
Josh Crutchfield, a 6-5 guard, played last season at Northern Oklahoma Junior College in Enid and will have three seasons of eligibility at ECU.
Chris Crutchfield and his sons will be on the same team for the first time since he coached their youth baseball squad in Fort Worth when he was at TCU during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
Last season, Crutchfield wasn't able to attend any of Jalen's games and saw only three of Josh's games.
"In my mind, this is a crucial time in their lives," Crutchfield said. "I want to spend more time with them. I missed so much with them growing up already.
"I don't think you can make up for lost time. But I think you can take advantage of the time moving forward."
Crutchfield grew up with six siblings -- all sisters.
"As a family, we spent a lot of quality time with each other," he said. "I wanted to try to get back to that type of balance if I had the opportunity. Now I do. That's why this is a great decision."
Crutchfield said coaches at Power 5 programs spend countless hours traveling around the country recruiting top prospects. As a Division II coach, he still wants the best players he can sign, but most of those will be within a few hours drive of ECU.
"At the Division II level, a lot of the times you're going to hop in your car and drive a couple of hours to recruit," he said. "Then you can drive home and see your family for dinner."
Crutchfield said he appreciated the year he spent working at Arkansas and thanked Musselman for the opportunity.
"Being around Coach Musselman and being able to pick his brain about a lot of different things, I learned a lot," Crutchfield said. "I also love the Arkansas fans. This fan base is one of the top five in the country in the way they love and support their Razorbacks."
Crutchfield's only previous head coaching experience was at Tyler (Texas) Junior College.
"To have an opportunity to be a head coach, I know it's not a Division I job, but this is a good job in a good Division II league," he said. "I understand that. This is going to give me a chance to run my own program, do it the way I want to do it, incorporate my own ideas. I'm ready for it. I've been under the tutelage of many, many great head coaches."
Crutchfield didn't rule out the possibility of becoming a Division I head coach eventually.
"If God wants me to get back to this level at some point," Crutchfield said, "He'll make it happen for me."
Sports on 06/06/2020