Joe Cravens


Joseph Dale Cravens is a former American college basketball coach. He was the head coach at Weber State, and the interim head coach at Utah for most of a season.
Born and raised in Scottsburg, Indiana, Cravens played college basketball at Brunswick Junior College in Georgia and transferred to Texas–Arlington for his final two seasons. He was an assistant coach for a year at his alma mater, then at Southwest Texas State in San Marcos for three years, and returned to Texas–Arlington.
In 1985, he joined the staff of new head coach Andy Russo at Washington in Seattle for four years in the Pac-10, then went to Utah under new head coach Rick Majerus in 1989. In mid-December, Majerus required major heart surgery and Cravens took over as interim head coach of the Utes in the WAC for the remainder of that
After four years in Salt Lake City, Cravens was hired as head coach at Idaho in Moscow in April 1993, succeeding and led the Vandals on the Palouse for three After Idaho, he coached in Switzerland that summer, then was an assistant at UC Irvine for and for two more back in the state of Utah at Weber State in Ogden under Ron Abegglen. Promoted to head coach in March he compiled a record in seven seasons. Cravens led the 2003 team to an undefeated record in the Big Sky Conference, but the Wildcats fell to fifth-seed Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament's first round

After collegiate coaching

Cravens is a college basketball analyst on the MountainWest Sports Network; he formerly coached girls' basketball at in Ogden. In his second year as coach at St. Joseph, Cravens led his girls to the 1-A state championship. They defeated Milford in the opening round, Manila in the quarterfinals, Piute in the semifinals, and heavily favored and defending 1-A champion Rich in the finals.
Despite losing several key players after their first title, Cravens led the defending champs to an undefeated season in including victory in their second state title game over Piute, He stepped down as coach after the 2015 season, but remained at the school as a counselor.

Head coaching record

NCAA Division I