Danny Crawford appreciates the opportunity he had to work at West Lowndes High School for the 2015-16 school year.
In one of the school’s most successful seasons, Crawford led 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.
With a combined record of 42-25 for the teams, Crawford already had started thinking ahead to the 2016-17 season and what those squads would have to do to capture state championships.
On Wednesday, though, West Lowndes High learned it will have to make any state tournament runs in basketball without Crawford because the veteran coach announced his resignation.
“I thank West Lowndes for the opportunity,” Crawford said Wednesday night. “I was at the highest peak of my career through West Lowndes. West Lowndes has helped me on the athletic side to become a more effective coach and get the recognition in the coaching world to be even considered and talked to for the top jobs. I have nothing bad to say. It is a win-win situation. They brought me in, they paid me, and I delivered.”
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.
Despite being thankful for the opportunities he had at West Lowndes High, Crawford said Wednesday he didn’t know why he was put in a position to make the choice he ultimately made. He said in two meetings with new West Lowndes High Principal Stefanie Jones that he was told he no longer would be the school’s girls basketball coach. He said that decision cost him more than $8,000 in pay, which is what he would have received from the coaching supplement. He said he was told in the second meeting that he had to make a decision between driving a bus route, which pays $7,000, and coaching the school’s boys basketball team. He said he wasn’t given any reason for the changes and that he couldn’t take that big of a cut in salary because it put his family in a bad situation and it put too much stress on him.
“It was a hard decision, but it was one that was the best one for me and my family,” Crawford said. “I personally felt like it was a slap on the face after I succeeded with the girls team. I could see (making a change if we went) 0-20 or if the parents were disgruntled, but I couldn’t understand why they were taking a team away from me that was so young that I took to the state tournament. The writing was on the wall. I don’t know what they’re looking for. I thank them for the opportunity I had.”
Crawford, who taught social studies, world history, and Mississippi studies at the school, said he asked for additional coaching duties to make up for the lost income, but he said he was refused. He also said he was asked to accept a Teacher Improvement Plan (TIP) from the beginning of the school year. He said he didn’t know how that plan worked and what the ramifications would be if he didn’t meet any standards set by the administration, so he didn’t feel it was a good move for him to agree to it.
Crawford also said there was no improper interaction with any of his players or any other reason he could imagine why he would have one team taken away from him and why he would be forced to choose between driving a bus and coaching another team.
In addition to thanking West Lowndes High for the opportunity to work and to coach there, Crawford thanked Lowndes County Superintendent Lynn Wright for talking with him and encouraging him to see another side of coaching. He said the talk with Wright helped him take a different approach and not be as animated on the sidelines.
“I did everything they asked me to on the athletic side,” Crawford said. “I thank West Lowndes and Lowndes County because I needed that incentive to be humble. I became humble. … I was still tough, but I found another way. I found a way to be a more effective coach.
“That is another reason why I don’t understand where it is coming from. After the first junior high games, I guess I fell back into my old ways, but after talking with Mr. Wright I did everything he asked me to do, and I thank him for that. I am grateful I had a situation (at West Lowndes High) that opened up and didn’t require me to move (from his home in West Point) and didn’t require my family routine to stop.”
Last August, the Lowndes County School Board approved the hiring of Crawford, who also 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.
New West Lowndes High Principal Stefanie Jones said Thursday she had received Crawford’s letter of resignation. She said the letter will have to be approved by the Lowndes County School Board. That body typically meets early each month for a scheduled meeting, but Jones said a called meeting might have to happen if the board needs to address new business.
Jones declined to comment on Crawford’s resignation.
Wright was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment. An attempt to reach him on a number believed to be his cell phone was unsuccessful.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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