Photo Provided NOVA SOUTHEASTERN men’s basketball coach Jim Crutchfield cuts down the net after his Sharks won the NCAA Division II national championship in March.

NCAA coaching legend and national championship winning coach Jim Crutchfield will be the keynote speaker at the St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner on Thursday, September 21, 2023, at Belmont College.

Tickets for the event are $50 for chamber members and $65 for non-members.

Crutchfield, who resides in Wheeling, led his 2023 Nova Southeastern Sharks to a perfect 36-0 season, culminating with the school’s first NCAA Division II Championship, a hard-fought 111-101 victory over his former team, the West Liberty Hilltoppers.

Crutchfield was hired at Nova Southeastern on March 21, 2017, and immediately transformed a 6-20 program into a Sunshine State Conference contender less than 12 months on the job. During his short tenure at NSU, Crutchfield has produced an overall record of 136-21, winning a torrid 67 of his past 68 games.

The 2022-23 season was storybook from start to finish for the Sharks and Crutchfield, as Nova Southeastern became the sixth team in NCAA Division II history to finish as undefeated national champions. Crutchfield’s Sharks were dominant throughout the season, leading the nation in points-per-game (102.5) and scoring margin (+25.7). NSU finished the season with a 36-0, 20-0 SSC record.

Nova Southeastern became the second team in the history of the Sunshine State Conference to go undefeated in league play, matching the feat of Crutchfield’s 2021-22 Sharks.

The 2021-22 season was another incredible year for the Sharks and Crutchfield, as NSU further established itself on the national landscape. The Sharks, for only the second time in program history, earned the number one ranking in the country, carrying that ranking into the postseason. Nova Southeastern won their first 31 games, becoming the first Sunshine State Conference program to go undefeated in claiming the regular season and tournament titles. Crutchfield’s Sharks then claimed the NCAA South Region title and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. The Sharks finished the season with a 31-1 record and Crutchfield earned his second Sunshine State Coach of the Year award.

Prior to his arrival in Fort Lauderdale, Crutchfield built arguably the most high-profile Division II program in the nation during his 13 seasons at West Liberty. Inheriting a Hilltopper program that finished 4-23 the year before, the ‘Toppers advanced to the finals of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, finishing his first season at 21-10.

The best was yet to come as Crutchfield amassed an overall record of 359-61 (.855) from 2004 – 2017 at West Liberty, which was the highest career winning percentage in college basketball history among all NCAA coaches who had spent at least 10 seasons as an NCAA head coach. That places Crutchfield in an elite class of coaching legends that includes Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (3rd all-time), UCLA’s John Wooden (7th), and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (21st).

Crutchfield’s Hilltopper teams posted 13 straight 20-win seasons, cracked the 30-win barrier five times and were a fixture at or near the top of the NCAA Division II Coaches’ Top 25. The Hilltoppers were ranked in every NCAA Division II Top 25 from Feb. 2, 2010, until Crutchfield left for Nova Southeastern following the 2017 season.

That 112-week run is the longest in the history of the NCAA Division II polls. West Liberty was also ranked No. 1 in the nation at some point in each of Crutchfield’s last seven seasons as coach. The Hilltoppers’ 45 No. 1 ranking over that span are the most of any Division II program.

Crutchfield’s WL teams became well known in the regional and national spotlight. Along with leading West Liberty to seven straight conference championships, Crutchfield guided the Black and Gold to nine NCAA Division II Tournament bids and seven consecutive Sweet 16s. His Hilltoppers advanced to five NCAA Division II Elite Eight championship tournaments, played in three Final Fours, and made it to the 2014 national championship game, dropping a heartbreaker to Central Missouri.

Crutchfield’s combined record at Nova Southeastern and West Liberty is an amazing 495-82 (.858), which remains the highest career winning percentage in college basketball history among all NCAA coaches, including the likes of Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (3rd all-time), UCLA’s John Wooden (7th) and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (21st) who had spent at least 10 seasons as an NCAA head coach.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the St. Clairsville Area Chamber via email at director@stcchamber.com or call 740.695.9623.