Danny Crawford was familiar with Noxubee County High School’s athletic success from his time working in Oktibbeha and Lowndes counties.
But the veteran coach had no idea the depth of the school’s potential until this week, when he officially started his new job as physical education teacher and boys basketball coach at the school.
“It feels great,” said Crawford, who started school Friday. “There are a lot of athletes and a lot of kids. That was surprising. Everything is still great. I am back in my area of expertise in health and PE, and there are a lot of kids and a lot of athletes. There are a lot more athletes to choose from.”
Crawford expected to have more athletes moving from a Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 1A school like West Lowndes to a Class 4A school like Noxubee County. Still, he had no idea the school had as many kids with so much athletic potential until he met them Friday. Crawford will have a chance to work with many of them before they even get to the varsity level. He said he will oversee a junior high program and coach Noxubee County High’s ninth-grade boys basketball team.
“I anticipate it being very different and more challenging,” Crawford said. “I know Class 4A is going to be a lot tougher than 1A, but I am looking forward to the challenge. (Out of all of the top schools in Class 4A), I believe we have more athletes at Noxubee County. What I really like about these kids is they’re going to be coming off a championship football season every year and brining that into basketball every year.”
In July, Crawford announced his resignation from his teaching position, his job as boys basketball coach, and his job as bus driver at West Lowndes. Prior to his resignation, Crawford said his job as girls basketball coach had been taken away from him and that he wasn’t given a reason. He said the loss of income of $15,000 was one of the primary reasons he opted to leave the school, even after leading the boys and girls basketball teams on a memorable run in 2015-16.
Crawford guided the boys basketball team to the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A State title game and the girls basketball team to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. The teams combined for a 42-25 record.
The West Lowndes boys (25-9) lost to Ashland 60-49 in the Class 1A State title game on March 10 at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. It was the program’s first appearance in the state title game. The West Lowndes girls finished 17-16 after a 49-28 loss to Biggersville in the quarterfinals of the Class 1A State tournament on March 5 at Jackson State.
Crawford landed at West Lowndes in August 2015 after he served as coach for a number of teams at West Oktibbeha County High in its final years. West and East Oktibbeha County high schools were consolidated into the Starkville School District at the end of the 2014-15 school year.
Crawford led West Oktibbeha to one of its biggest sports accomplishments when the boys basketball team rallied for a 72-71 victory against East Oktibbeha in the semifinals of the Class 1A, Region 5 tournament. West Oktibbeha then made history by beating West Lowndes 72-71 for the first region title in school history. The team’s run ended in the second round of the Class 1A State tournament with a loss to Montgomery County in the second round. The Timberwolves finished the season 18-13.
Prior to working at West Oktibbeha, Crawford worked for three years as boys and girls basketball coach at J.J. McClain High in Lexington. Before that, he worked as boys basketball coach at Ridgeway High in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a graduate of Aberdeen High (Class of 1995), Rust College, and Mississippi Valley State graduate school. He played for longtime Aberdeen boys basketball coach Roy Hazzle.
Crawford said former Noxubee County boys basketball coach T.J. Billups is a good friend of his and that his goal is to bring back the same structure Billups had to the program. He said he plans to have a system that starts that begins at the lower levels and continues to the high school’s varsity team.
“When you have athletes and implement structure, everything else tends to fall into place,” Crawford said. “I was hired to restructure and rebuild the basketball program.”
Crawford said the recent success of the football program, which has won back-to-back Class 4A State titles and three championships in the last four years, will make rebuilding the boys basketball program less of a challenge. He looks forward to working with football coach Tyrone Shorter, who also is the school’s athletic director, to accomplish his goal.
The football athletes are on board,” said Crawford, who added that several 6-foot-3 and 6-5 athletes talked to him Friday about playing on the boys basketball team. “They know what I bring to the table. They want to play basketball and are going to bring that winning tradition and extra toughness. I am in a great situation.”
With eight players returning from the 2015-16 team, Crawford believes the Tigers will have enough depth to play an aggressive, full-court defensive style that he has used at many of his previous coaching stops. He said he welcomes the pressure that comes with having an “overwhelming” array of athletic potential.
“I never could have imagined,” Crawford said. “I know there are more kids here because it is a bigger school, but I never imagined I would have athletes to choose from like I have today. It is amazing.
“This year, I will put pressure on myself to come in and win. The first year being in a bigger classification I want to make an impression. We have the athletes in place, the football team has a winning tradition, the athletes are here, all I have to do is come in and work and improve the discipline and structure and see what happens.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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