Cragg Coaching Tree Continues to Grow

Every off-season there's a "coaching carousel", i.e., a number of new hires, firings and retirements, and the start of 2018 was no different. The announcement of Coach Cragg's retirement from coaching was a bit of a surprise for some, but a 30+ year career with 157 wins* (albeit the number really should be 174) is a good way to go out, while opening the door for "the next generation."

While Mike Cragg's coaching career and commitment to Hobart are remarkable, I don't think enough has been made of the fact of how many former Statesmen have gone on to successful coaching careers of their own. The latest was the appointment of Coach Brian Bubna '04 to the HC of MIT - a school that Coach Chad Martinovich '94 had led for nine seasons prior to taking the HC job at Rochester.

Late last year we saw Coach Nate Milne '03 be named the HC of Muhlenburg, and we all saw Coach Jon Drach (not an alum, but clearly a Cragg disciple) earn the Wilkes job and of course, Coach Kevin DeWall 00's going from Endicott to Hobart.

Lest we forget, HC Scott Yoder '01 who's entering his sixth season at Shenandoah University - the Hornets will host the Statesmen in Week 3, on 9/15 - and is yet another branch of the Cragg coaching tree. And that's not including the number of young, assistant coaches on all the above staffs that have Hobart ties including, in alphabetical order:

Aaron Backhaus '00
Walt Bennett '05
Kelvin Cruz '12
Tom Elder '13
Art Garvey '13
Mike Green '14
Jack Pfohl '17
Shane Sweeney '18
Drake Woodard '12

I'm sure there's lots more out there at the HS (e.g., Bobby Wynne '94 at the Salisbury School in CT, Devin Worthington '14 at Chesire Academy, Orlando Patterson '10 formerly Tabor Academy, now HC of Roxbury Latin School in MA and Tony Aguilar '97 at Eastern Alamance HS in NC etc.) and upper-division levels that I'm forgetting / missed given Cragg's having mentored hundreds of Statesmen over the past three decades.

While all the LL schools, and many others in D3, have released their 2018 schedules, the Statesmen are still working on that elusive Week 5 / Homecoming match-up. Barring an update on that, I'll turn to looking at some changes to the Hobart offense as Coach DeWall '00 begins to put his stamp on the Statesmen in 2018.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!