Joe Craddock

Joe Craddock (born September 7, 1985) is an American football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator at Troy University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Craddock played college football at Middle Tennessee State University and professionally in the Italian Football League (IFL).

For the English footballer, see Joe Craddock (footballer).

Joe Craddock
Current position
TitleOffensive coordinator
TeamTroy
ConferenceSun Belt
Biographical details
Born (1985-09-07) September 7, 1985
Chelsea, Alabama
Playing career
2005–2008Middle Tennessee State
2009–2010Parma Panthers
Position(s)Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2010–2011Briarwood Christian HS (AL) (OC/QB)
2012Clemson (player dev.)
2013–2014Clemson (GA)
2015–2017SMU (OC/QB)
2018–2019Arkansas (OC/QB)
2020–2021UAB (TE)
2022–presentTroy (OC/QB)

He has served as the offensive coordinator as Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University of Arkansas from 2018 to 2019 under head coach Chad Morris.

Playing career

Craddock attended Briarwood Christian School and started at quarterback from 2001 to 2003. In 2003, Craddock led Briarwood Christian to a state championship victory in their 5A classification. He was named MVP of that game.[1] After his prep career, he accepted a scholarship to play football at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[2]

Craddock attended Middle Tennessee from 2004 to 2008, starting for the Blue Raiders during his junior and senior seasons. In his final campaign in 2008, he was named a team captain.[3] During this season he led the Blue Raiders to a 24–14 upset win over the Maryland Terrapins.[4] Craddock was also a member of the school's baseball team for one season.[5]

After his collegiate career concluded, Craddock spent two seasons as the starting quarterback for the Parma Panthers of the Italian Football League (IFL).[6] He led them to the 2010 IFL Super Bowl, a game in which he threw seven touchdowns.[7]

Coaching career

Prior to his collegiate coaching career, Craddock was a high school offensive coordinator at Briarwood Christian School in Birmingham, Alabama. During his tenure at Briarwood Christian, the school compiled a 25–4 record and finished as the state runner-up in 2010.[8] After the 2011 season, he was hired as an offensive player development coach by Dabo Swinney at Clemson University.[9] Upon the conclusion of the 2012 football season, he was given on-field graduate assistant duties working with the quarterbacks, a role he held until December 2014. During these three seasons, he grew extremely close with Chad Morris.

In December 2014, Morris accepted the head coaching position at Southern Methodist University. Immediately after he was hired, Morris named Craddock as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.[10][11] At the time of the hiring, Craddock was 29 years old and the youngest offensive coordinator in college football.[12][13]

In December 2017, Craddock was brought on with Morris to be the new offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas. Craddock was a Broyles Award nominee in 2017. Craddock was the youngest offensive coordinator in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

In January 2020, Craddock was announced as the tight ends coach for UAB. In December 2021, Craddock was named offensive coordinator for Troy.

Personal life

Craddock married sweetheart, Abby Richburg, on February 7, 2015, and the couple welcomed their first child, Charlie Kathryn, in November 2016 and added a son, Joe "Cain" in November 2018.

References
  1. "AHSFHS.org - Alabama High School Football Championships". www.ahsfhs.org.
  2. "Gadsden Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  3. "Joe Craddock Bio | GoBlueRaiders.com". Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  4. Ezzell, Josh (September 7, 2008). "MTSU knocks off Maryland". The Murfreesboro Post.
  5. "Joe Craddock - Baseball". Middle Tennessee State University Athletics.
  6. Sims, Bob (April 21, 2009). "Ex-Briarwood QB Joe Craddock now starring in the Italian Football League". al.
  7. "Parma Panthers new Italian Champs! Game MVP Greg Hay!". Europlayers.
  8. "Alabama High School Football History". www.ahsfhs.org.
  9. "Swinney hires former MTSU quarterback Joe Craddock". TigerNet.com. June 19, 2012.
  10. Evans, Thayer (December 2, 2014). "New SMU coach Chad Morris fills out his offensive coaching staff". Sports Illustrated.
  11. "Pogue: Craddock steps into SMU's offensive coordinator role". DNJ.
  12. "SMU OC Joe Craddock joins the Greg Pogue and Big Joe Show 12-10-14" – via soundcloud.com.
  13. "Reports: SMU hires ex-Clemson GA Joe Craddock as offensive coordinator | Dallas Morning News". Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.