Joe Craddock (born September 7, 1985) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former player. He is the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

s coach at

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

. Craddock played

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

and professionally in the

Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL; the name is in English) is the top level American football league in Italy first established in 1978. The first recognized league champion was crowned in 1980. The annual final playoff game to determine the league c ...

(IFL). He has served as the offensive coordinator as

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

(SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

from 2018 to 2019 under head coach

Chad Morris Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an American football coach who was most recently the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Texas State University. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University ...

Playing career

Craddock attended

Briarwood Christian School Briarwood Christian School is a private school in Birmingham, Alabama. It was founded by Briarwood Presbyterian Church in 1965. In 1970, when integration of the public schools was mandated by the federal government, the IRS began revoking the ta ...

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. After his prep career, he accepted a scholarship to play football at

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

. 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 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, he was named a team captain. During this season he led the Blue Raiders to a 24–14 upset win over the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

. Craddock was also a member of the school's baseball team for one season. After his collegiate career concluded, Craddock spent two seasons as the starting quarterback for the

Parma Panthers The Parma Panthers are an American football team based in Parma, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team was founded in 1981 by Vic Dasaro, an American veterinary student attending university in Parma. Dasaro created the te ...

of the

(IFL). He led them to the 2010 IFL Super Bowl, a game in which he threw seven touchdowns.

Coaching career

Prior to his collegiate coaching career, Craddock was a high school offensive coordinator at

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. During his tenure at Briarwood Christian, the school compiled a 25–4 record and finished as the state runner-up in 2010. After the 2011 season, he was hired as an offensive player development coach by

Dabo Swinney William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney (; born November 20, 1969) is an American college football coach, currently serving as the head football coach at Clemson Tigers football, Clemson University. Swinney took over as head coach of the Clemson Tiger ...

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

. 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

to the detriment of his career. In December 2014, Morris accepted the head coaching position at

. Immediately after he was hired, Morris named Craddock as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. At the time of the hiring, Craddock was 29 years old and the youngest offensive coordinator in college football. In December 2017, Craddock was brought on with Morris to be the new offensive coordinator at the

. Craddock was a

Broyles Award The Broyles Award is an annual award given to honor the best assistant coach in college football. First awarded in 1996, it was named after former University of Arkansas men's athletic director Frank Broyles. The award is presented in Little ...

nominee in 2017. Craddock was the youngest offensive coordinator in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC). In January 2020, Craddock was announced as the tight ends coach for

UAB UAB may stand for: *Uždaroji akcinė bendrovė, a type of limited liability company in Lithuania Organizations *Apostolic United Brethren, polygamist Mormon fundamentalist church *University of Alabama at Birmingham, a public research university ...

. In December 2021, Craddock was named offensive coordinator for

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. Craddock began serving as offensive coordinator for Tulane in 2024.

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

External links

Troy profile

Arkansas profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craddock, Joe 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football players SMU Mustangs football coaches Troy Trojans football coaches High school football coaches in Alabama Coaches of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama American expatriate sportspeople in Italy American expatriate players of American football Italian Football League players