Kruger Completes Staff with Chris Crutchfield Hire

Crutchfield was an assistant at Oral Roberts before agreeing to join the Sooners.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:21 pm

By: News On 6

Kruger Completes Staff with Chris Crutchfield Hire

Originally Published: Apr 18, 2011 7:44 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

NORMAN, Okla. – Lon Kruger’s OU staff is now complete with the hiring of assistant coach Chris Crutchfield.

Crutchfield joins assistants Steve Henson and Lew Hill, who came over to Oklahoma from Kruger’s UNLV staff.

Crutchfield has spent the last four seasons as an assistant to Scott Sutton at Oral Roberts.

He was also an assistant at TCU for a year, and served as director of basketball operations for a year as well.

From 2001-05, Crutchfield was an assistant at New Mexico State.

Kruger said his other assistants know Crutchfield and have a lot of respect for his work ethic.

"Chris has a terrific reputation among coaches, not only on the court but also in recruiting," Kruger said. "His contacts in Oklahoma and Texas are particularly strong. He's been very successful and is highly respected by his peers.”

Crutchfield has also been a head coach at Tyler (Texas) Junior College from 1999-2001.

He said he has been grinding it out as an assistant coach in the mid-majors for years and is honored to move up to a program of OU’s level.

"Having spent time in the state of Texas for a good part of my coaching career, I've been able to build a lot of relationships with high school and AAU people,” Crutchfield said. “And that's what it's all about -- being able to recruit and having a good rapport with people.”