High school notebook: Kentucky native led Buddy Hield to Oklahoma

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since November, you’re probably familiar with Buddy Hield, the University of Oklahoma star who has emerged as a national college basketball player of the year candidate and figures to be an NBA lottery pick come June.

But did you know a key figure in him becoming a Sooner is from our commonwealth?

Chris Crutchfield, a Hopkinsville graduate who played on two state tournament teams in the mid-1980s, first caught a glimpse of Hield when he was a 14-year-old playing in Freeport, Bahamas. Crutchfield was then an assistant at Oral Roberts, but the “long, skinny kid that shot the ball from his hip” grabbed his attention and became a top priority by the time Crutchfield landed on Lon Kruger’s bench in Norman. He admitted the staff never thought of Hield as a player who’d be on the lips of every basketball fan in America.

“We knew when I went and recruited him that he would change our program from an energy level and excitement,” said Crutchfield, now in his fifth season as an assistant at OU. “We knew that he was gonna be able to do that. But we didn’t have an idea that he was gonna elevate his game to possibly be a player of the year.”

Oklahoma went through a bit of a slump at the beginning of February. The No. 6 Sooners (23-6) dropped three of four games before picking up a big win over West Virginia in Morgantown on Feb. 20. That gave them a sweep of the No. 10 Mountaineers, whom the Sooners need to lose at No. 19 Baylor on Saturday to slide into the second seed of the Big 12 Tournament. Oklahoma will also have to take care of business at TCU on Saturday.

Crutchfield was frank in trying to point to why the Sooners suffered last month.

“I think we went through a stretch there where we got just kinda got bored with games,” he said. “That probably don’t make sense for a lot of people, but the kids lose their excitement for a week or two.” By this part of the season, it’s pretty clear who your top few seeds are going to be. “It’s only exciting for the people on the bubble,” Crutchfield said with a laugh.

That lapse started about a month after an epic 109-106 loss at Kansas in triple-overtime, a game Crutchfield said “was really, really fun” to be involved in despite coming away empty-handed. “Sometimes you throw coaching out the window. You’re there just watching as a spectator and you’re saying ‘Wow,’” he said. “ … I think we gained a lot of confidence that game and realized that we could probably play with anybody in the country, ’cause nobody goes into Allen Fieldhouse and plays a team to three overtimes and has a chance to win.”

About a decade ago, some folks in Hopkinsville reached out to Crutchfield and asked if he had any interest in coming back as the school’s head coach. At that time he was curious because he thought it’d be fun to do. Ultimately, financial limitations prevented a return home. He said he keeps up with what’s happening with the Tigers, though, and talks to coach Tim Haworth “about twice a month.” There could maybe even be a player who trades in his Hoptown jersey for OU garb down the road, too. “They’ve got a bunch of young kids that we’re kinda keeping an eye on right now.”

Crutchfield — himself “skinny, really long and frail” as a player — won a Sweet Sixteen title as a sophomore in 1985. He played college basketball and football at Nebraska-Omaha, has been an assistant at almost every level in college and was a head coach for two seasons at Tyler Junior College at the turn of the century. The next goal in mind for the Hoptown native? A Division I coaching gig.

“No doubt about it. That’s the next stage for me,” Crutchfield said. “I’ve worked hard for a lot of different head coaches and I’ve learned a lot of things along the way. … Hopefully by having success here that’ll open doors for me.”

He’s with the band

Paul Laurence Dunbar named former Greenup County football coach Chris Mullins to the same role on Monday. He became the second former Musketeers coach to take over a 6A program in February after Mike Copley was named Ballard’s coach earlier in the month.

Mullins brings more than football acumen to the table. He was once in a band called “Lived Like Murder,” which toured with 3 Doors Down (rockers best known for hits like Kryptonite and Here Without You) and has an album available on iTunes and Amazon.

“That wasn’t an easy gig to leave,” Mullins said with a laugh. He added that before he got the call to come teach math and coach at Greenup County, he was a bouncer at a bar. “They called and offered me the job and I was like, ‘It’s probably time to do something a little bit different.’”

He described Live Like Murder as “a big ’90s grunge band.” Some of the songs on their album are titled Comatose Fashions, I Hate My Generation and Noise Pollution. “I’m stuck in the ’90s,” Mullins said.

Actually...

With 1:40 to play between Jenkins and Perry County Central in the first round of the girls’ 14th Region Tournament, the game was paused to congratulate Whitney Creech for becoming the all-time leading scorer in high school girls’ basketball history. The only problem is, she isn’t.

Creech’s current point total sits at 5,428. Adrian McGowen of Goodrich (Texas) set the national record of 5,424 in 2006. The discrepancy? The National Federation of High Schools only recognizes points scored in grades 9 through 12 as part of its record book. With that in mind, Creech’s national count is at 4,363 points, good for No. 7 on the all-time list behind Geri Grigsby, whom she passed in the Kentucky record books in December.

More from the water

Tates Creek’s Landon Clark closed out his high school career with a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly finals at the state swimming and diving championships at the University of Louisville last Saturday, clocking in at 50.63 seconds. That effort came two weeks after Clark won the same event at the 8th Region meet in Barbourville.

The senior was one of only two swimmers from a Lexington school to finish in the top three of a championship heat at the boys’ state meet, the other being Lexington Catholic’s Zach Hils.

Clark was voted to the All-State second team after the meet. He and Hils were also the only Lexington swimmers to earn All-State honors. Clark has signed to swim for Xavier University, which just won its third consecutive Big East swimming and diving championship.

Postseason basketball notes

▪ The St. Elizabeth Healthcare Girls’ Sweet Sixteen tips off Wednesday at noon. In case you’ve forgotten, the tournament moves to Northern Kentucky University’s BB&T Arena this year. Advance tickets are available, ranging from $11 for general admission to $31.25 for courtside seating. Those prices go up by a few dollars each for day-of-play admission. Parking is $5, cash only.

▪ Taylor County junior David Sloan had 20 points in the Cardinals’ 84-50 win over Nelson County in the first round of the 5th Region Tournament. That’s good, but paled in comparison to his first-round performance in 20th District play. Sloan scored 34 points against Campbellsville, knocking down a school-record 10 three-pointers. He finished 12-for-17 overall in that one.

▪ East Jessamine girls’ coach Jacqueline Coleman announced her resignation in a heartfelt letter on her blog following the Jaguars’ loss to Lincoln County in the first round of 12th Region play.

▪ Boyd County freshman Savannah Wheeler, who recently joined the school’s 1,000-point club, scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Lions’ 59-54 win over Fleming County in the girls’ 16th Region Tournament. That win set up a rubber match with No. 23 East Carter at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Morehead State. Boyd County, which took the first meeting with the Raiders this season, is the second-ranked team in the region.

▪ Following Owensboro’s ousting in the boys’ 9th District Tournament last week and Highlands’ win over Covington Holy Cross in the girls’ 9th Region Tournament on Monday, Kentucky is guaranteed to produce two new Sweet Sixteen champions this season.

▪ According to reader Paul Schoninger, the Cantrall Ratings correctly predicted 85.6 percent of the boys’ district matchups and 87.9 percent of the girls’ district meetings. I’d call that a solid success rate.

Recent commitments

▪ Tates Creek saw several of its football seniors commit to schools in the past week. Quarterback Peyton Burke committed to Middle Tennessee State after averaging 241 passing yards per game, the most in Class 6A last season.

Robbie Lofton and Connor Gibson, two of Burke’s targets last season, also committed to play at the next level. Lofton, who played at Bowling Green before transferring to Tates Creek will play at Eastern Illinois. Gibson, who also plays defensive back, committed to Hanover College.

▪ Kaitlyn Hord, a sophomore at Henry Clay and the daughter of ex-Cat Derrick Hord, committed to play volleyball at seven-time national champion Penn State. The Blue Devils were a fixture inside the top five last season and finished 36-5.

▪ Amber Shelley, who averaged 16.7 points and 4.2 rebounds for Christian Fellowship School this season, signed with Kentucky Christian on Monday. That made her the first female athlete from the school to ever sign to play at the college level. CSF is located in Benton in Marshall County.

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 6:31 PM with the headline "High school notebook: Kentucky native led Buddy Hield to Oklahoma."