Crawford is now in his second year at Lipscomb after joining the squad last season. Before joining the Purple and Gold, Crawford spent the 2019 season at Austin Peay first as a volunteer assistant before taking the reigns as the team's pitching coach.
Despite the 2020 season being cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Crawford had the Lipscomb pitching staff in good shape. Through 16 games, the Bisons pitching staff was ranked fifth overall in the ASUN, owning a 5.35 ERA and recording 136 strikeouts. Under Crawford's leadership, pitchers Max Habegger and Tyler Guilfoil put up some impressive numbers. Among starting pitchers, Habegger had the seventh-lowest ERA (1.80) in the ASUN and Guilfoil led the league in saves (6) to go along with posting a 0.00 ERA on the season in eight appearances, mainly as a closer.
Crawford took over as the interim pitching coach for the Governors for the final 43 games of the season during 2019. Under his leadership Austin Peay's pitching staff was able to set program records for strikeouts (556) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.92) in a season. The Govs also held opponents to a .268 batting average, which was the lowest mark since the 2015 season for the team.
Before his time at Austin Peay, Crawford spent the 2018 season at Louisiana-Monroe where he was the pitching and recruiting coordinator. Crawford also had a two-year stint at Murray State, before he joined the Louisiana-Monroe staff, as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
During his tenure at ULM, Crawford helped the Warhawks improve in key areas such as ERA, strikeouts per nine innings and hits allowed per nine innings, which played a key role in the program nearly doubling its win total from the 2017 season. He also coached 2018 MLB draft pick Keegan Curtis, who was selected in the 22nd round by the New York Yankees.
In 2016, Crawford became a part of the Murray State staff as a volunteer assistant and then was promoted to the programs full-time pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for the 2017 season. With his help the Racers set single-season records for strikeouts (491) and saves (10) in 2017. His staff featured one MLB Draft pick (Derrik Watson, 25th round by Colorado) and four players who signed with independent league squads (Austin Dubsky, Chad Gendron, Jack Hranec and John Lollar).
To go along with his time at ULM and MSU, Crawford has coached the Hopkinsville Hoppers, a collegiate summer league team in the Ohio Valley League, on a few different occasions. In 2018, he led the Hoppers to a OVL West Division championship and to the OVL Championship Series. He also led the Hoppers to the 2012 OVL championship to go along with back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2013 and 2014.
Crawford also has coaching experience at the NAIA and high school levels. He was the head coach for two seasons at Christian County High School, located in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he compiled a 47-35 record and led his team to consecutive Region 2 championship games. After his stint at Christian County High School, he moved on to Lindsey Willson College for the 2014-15 season, which saw the Blue Raiders make it to their first-ever NAIA World Series and a No. 10 national ranking, the highest in program history.
Crawford's resume also includes a a two-year period at Pensacola (Fla.) State College as an assistant coach where he helped 27 student-athletes advance to the next level and play at four-year institutions.
As for playing experience, Crawford started out at Southern Arkansas before transferring to join his father, Donny Crawford, at Stillman College. He played catcher for three seasons at Stillman and graduated in 2010, where his coaching career began as an assistant soon after graduation.
Crawford and his wife Lee have two children: Ava Gray and Evan.
