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Tom Crean (basketball coach) |
| Tom Crean | ||
|---|---|---|
| Title | Head coach | |
| College | Indiana | |
| Team record | 191-96 (.666) | |
| Born | March 25, 1966 | |
| Place of birth |  Mount Pleasant, MI |
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| Career highlights | ||
| Championships | ||
| C-USA Regular Season Championship (2003) | ||
| Awards | ||
| C-USA Coach of the Year (2002, 2003) Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award (2003) |
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| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1989–1990 1990–1994 1994–1995 1995–1999 1999–2008 2008-present |
Michigan State (asst.) Western Kentucky (asst.) Pittsburgh (asst.) Michigan State (asst.) Marquette Indiana |
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Thomas Aaron "Tom" Crean (born March 25, 1966, Mount Pleasant, Michigan) is the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team. His previous head coaching job was at Marquette University (1999-2008), where the program had averaged 20 wins a year, won a conference championship, and made six postseason appearances, including the 2003 NCAA Final Four, the program's third appearance all-time and first since 1977.
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Crean grew up in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where he played basketball for four years. According to Crean, "I didn't play a lot, but I knew I wanted to coach."1 While a student at Central Michigan University, Crean was an assistant coach at Mount Pleasant High School for five seasons,2 and at Alma College. Crean received his bachelor's degree in parks and recreation from Central Michigan in 1989.1 Crean is married to Joani Harbaugh, who he met through a mutual friend at a gym where she was working as an aerobics instructor.3 Her father, Jack Harbaugh, was the head football coach at Western Kentucky University at the time Crean was an assistant basketball coach. She is also the sister of both former University of Michigan, NFL quarterback and current Stanford head football coach Jim Harbaugh, and John Harbaugh who is the current head football coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Crean and his wife have three children.4
Crean was hired by then head coach Jud Heathcote as a graduate assistant coach at Michigan State University during the 1989-1990 season, at the behest of then assistant coach Tom Izzo, whom Crean had befriended on the summer camp circuit.5 He was also a scout for two years, earning the trust of recruiting guru Bob Gibbons.3 That season the Spartans won the Big Ten title and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.2
Crean spent the next four seasons as an assistant coach under Ralph Willard at Western Kentucky University. In 1993, Western Kentucky beat Penny Hardaway and Memphis and then upset second-seeded Seton Hall to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16. Western Kentucky then lost to Florida State in overtime.2 When Willard left to become head coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 1994, Crean was considered for the position of Willard's replacement before the selection of Jacksonville University head coach Matt Kilcullen.6
Crean followed Willard to Pittsburgh, serving as associate head coach for one year.2 While at Pittsburgh, Crean interviewed for the head coaching position at Murray State University, a job that went to UCLA assistant coach Mark Gottfried.7
In 1995 Crean rejoined Izzo, who had been named head coach at Michigan State. The two became such good friends that Crean lived in Izzo's house and Izzo was an usher in Crean's wedding. According to Crean at the time, "It was a great opportunity for me to go back home. We've been friends a long time. I don't think I would have left Ralph for anything else."7 Crean served as recruiting coordinator at Michigan State,8 and was the leader behind a shift in the recruitment of Michigan players to Michigan State instead of the University of Michigan.9 He directed the staff's preparation for opponents, and wrote reports identifying several aspects on each of the opponent's players.10 He also handled the substitutions, called many of the plays, and formulated a play sheet that used a lot of pro sets on offense.11 While Crean was at Michigan State, the Spartans compiled an 88–41 record.2
On March 30, 1999, Crean was named head coach at Marquette University,2 beating out a number of candidates, including Duke University assistant coach Quin Snyder, Butler University head coach Barry Collier, and former University of Iowa coach Tom Davis and Steve Alford.12 Marquette had been looking for a young coach and a successful recruiter from a successful program after firing Mike Deane on March 5.13 The Rev. Robert A. Wild, Marquette president, said Crean possessed everything the university was looking for, including "great recruiting ability, knowledge of the Midwest, successful coaching experience, a tremendous work ethic."14 No players decided to transfer as a result of the coaching change.15 According to Crean, "Once Marquette became available, that's where my sights were. I had unbelievable respect for the tradition and the name. When I thought of Marquette, I thought of a true basketball school and to me that had a lot to do with it."16
Crean immediately made a number of changes at Marquette, creating a new team image by increasing the significance of the team's media day and instituting a "Midnight Madness" event commonly held by schools on the night teams are allowed to begin practice.17 Crean's first recruiting class was considered by experts to be among the top twenty in the country, Marquette's first in a long time.18
Marquette was 15-14 under Crean in his first season, and played in the National Invitation Tournament, where the team lost in the first round at Xavier.19 The team posted an identical record its next season, but did not play in the post season. Crean was chosen by USA Basketball to be one of eight coaches for the 2001 USA Basketball men's national team trials in Colorado Springs in June 2001.20
In the 2001-2002 season, Marquette came in second place in Conference USA in the regular season and the conference tournament behind the play of Cordell Henry and Dwyane Wade.21 The season ended with a 71–69 loss to Tulsa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament,22, Marquette's first appearance since 1997. The team finished with a 26–7 record, the highest victory total by a Marquette team since 1975–1976. Crean was named Conference USA coach of the year, and signed a long-term contract extension.23
Despite losing three players in the off-season,24 Marquette won the Conference USA regular season championship.25 In the first round of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis, Marquette beat Holy Cross, coached by Ralph Willard, 72–68, led by Travis Diener's 29 points. In the second round, Dwyane Wade scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half, and freshman Steve Novak hit three three-pointers in the game's last six minutes to propel the Golden Eagles to a 101–92 overtime victory over Missouri.2226 At Minneapolis, Marquette ended Pittsburgh's 11-game winning streak, beating the Panthers 77-74. In the Midwest Regional final, Marquette beat number-one ranked Kentucky 83–69, led by Wade's first triple-double at any level.27 Marquette lost 94-61 to Kansas in the national semifinal. The team was "overwhelmed and outmatched at nearly every spot," and shot only 31 percent from the field.28
Crean has referred to the team's run as "one of the greatest four or five days of my life."29 He was named Conference USA coach of the year for the second year in a row,30 and signed a long-term contract extension after the season.31 Later that year, Marquette accepted an offer to leave Conference USA for the Big East Conference after the 2004–2005 season. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese cited his friendship with Crean as contributing to the invitation, saying, "That, to me, was one of the great appeals, to get Tommy as well as Marquette into the league."32
The team suffered a slide backward the next season, however. Though Diener, Novak, and freshman guard Dameon Mason took leaps forward, most of the rest of the returnees showed little or no development. Crean's 2003–2004 recruiting class also struggled, with the exception of Mason. The team lost to Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the NIT.33 The unsatisfying season was the first time since 1998 that a team had reached the Final Four and not made the NCAA Tournament the next year, an unexpected fall despite losing players Wade and Robert Jackson.34
Crean served as an assistant coach for USA Basketball's under-20 team in the FIBA Americas World Championship. The team won its second title since the tournament began in 1993.35 Crean suffered a torn disc in September 2004, the culmination of a number of issues he'd dealt with over the course of his coaching career, most notably sciatic nerve problems.36
Plagued by difficulty handling trapping and presses and a late season injury to Diener, Marquette's 2004-2005 team finished 19-12.37 The season ended with one of the most humbling losses of Crean's tenure, a 54-40 home loss to Western Michigan in the first round of the NIT.38
The 2005–2006 season was considered by some to be Crean's best coaching performance. He had to replace Diener, the team's leader, integrate freshmen Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, and Jerel McNeal into the starting lineup, and compensate for a lack of talent on the inside as Marquette played its inaugural season in the expanded Big East Conference. Crean guided the Golden Eagles to a 20-9 regular season, a 10-6 mark and fourth-place finish in the Big East just four months after they were picked to finish 12th.3940 The season's defining moment came in the team's Big East opening game, when they beat No. 2-ranked Connecticut 94-79.29 Marquette lost to Alabama 90-85 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.41
In September 2006, Crean signed a contract extension through the 2016-2017 season, keeping him in the upper echelon of college basketball coaches in the country.42 Marquete opened the 2006-2007 season ranked 12th in the Blue Ribbon Yearbook pre-season top 25.43 Early in the season, Marquette beat Texas Tech and Duke on consecutive days to win the CBE Classic.44 They finished the regular season in sixth place in the Big East Conference.45 The season ended with a 61–49 loss in the NCAA Tournament to Michigan State, coached by Izzo. Marquette, playing without their star Jerel McNeal (broken wrist), did not score in the game's first nine minutes.46
In the 2007–08 season, Marquette opened the campaign with a 10–1 record including a win at University Wisconsin-Madison. Injuries to forwards Trevor Mbakwe, Dan Fitzgerald and guard Dominic James kept the Golden Eagles at just 3–3 in the Big East to start, but Marquette would win 8 of their next 12 to finish 5th in the conference. The Big East tournament saw them win two games over Seton Hall and Notre Dame before falling to tournament champion Pittsburgh. The season ended in Anaheim, California as Marquette took care of Kentucky in the first round but lost to #3 seed Stanford in overtime on a last second shot, 82–81.
Crean was hired on April 1, 2008 as head coach of the Hoosiers. He succeeds interim head coach Dan Dakich who replaced former IU head coach Kelvin Sampson who resigned on February 22 after allegations of NCAA recruiting violations. In an attempt to clean up the scandal from Kelvin Sampson he has dismissed all but 2 of the remaining players from last year's team, as they failed to live up to academic standards. He has, however, brought in 7 new players for 2008 including two rivals 150 recruits. For 2009 he has already brought in five recruits, including 4 ranked in the the top 100.
When asked about accepting the job at Indiana Crean was quoted as saying, "[because] It's Indiana... It's Indiana" in his introduction as head coach at Indiana University.
Crean established a reputation as a strong recruiter, selling recruits on the notion of joining a family and making sure that players' families are involved in the program.47 Crean is known as one of college basketball's best talent evaluators.16 Crean's attention was cited by Madison native Wesley Matthews as the biggest factor in his decision to attend Marquette instead of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where both of his parents had been athletes.48
Crean's basketball philosophy involves defensive pressure and fast breaks. His style involves contesting each of the opponents steps on the court.9 Crean utilizes the halfcourt defense, and requires great ball pressure, great help, challenging shots, and defensive rebounding. Shot selection is extremely important, focusing on spacing, inside-out attacks, penetration and kick.49 On offense, Crean has a reputation for his magnitude of offensive sets and their multitude of options, with one opposition coach estimating about 400 different sets run.50
Crean is also known to excel in public relations, charming alumni and press.51 Crean started the tradition of Midnight Madness at Marquette, which was seen as an immediate success.52 Between 1999 and 2006, the team saw a 70% overall increase in attendance, three total attendance records broken, and 1.5 million fans pass through the turnstiles.16 According to former Marquette athletic director Bill Cords, "He's done so many things outside of basketball for the good of the community and the good of people in the state."42 Crean also participates in Al's Memorial Run and Walk for Children's Hospital, a charity event started by former Marquette coach Al McGuire.53
A number of Crean's assistants have become head coaches elsewhere.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marquette (Conference USA) (1999–2005) | |||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Marquette | 15-14 | 8-8 | 4th (American) | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| 2000–2001 | Marquette | 15-14 | 9-7 | 3rd (American) | |||||
| 2001–2002 | Marquette | 26-7 | 13-3 | 2nd (American) | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2002–2003 | Marquette | 27-6 | 14-2 | 1st (American) | NCAA Final Four | ||||
| 2003–2004 | Marquette | 19-12 | 8-8 | 8th | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2004–2005 | Marquette | 19-12 | 7-9 | 9th | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| Marquette (Big East Conference) (2005–2008) | |||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Marquette | 20-11 | 10-6 | T-4th | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2006–2007 | Marquette | 24-10 | 10-6 | T-5th | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2007–2008 | Marquette | 25-10 | 11-7 | T-5th | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| Marquette: | 190-96 | 90-56 | |||||||
| Indiana (Big Ten Conference) (2008–present) | |||||||||
| 2008-2009 | Indiana | 1-0 | |||||||
| Indiana: | 1-0 | ||||||||
| Total: | 191-96 | ||||||||
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National Champion Conference Champion Conference Tournament Champion |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Crean, Thomas Aaron |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tom |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | College basketball coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1966-03-25 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mount Pleasant, Michigan |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
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