Joseph Dale Cravens (born March 9, 1954) is a former American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He was the head coach at Weber State, and the interim head coach at

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

for most of a season. Born and raised in

Scottsburg, Indiana Scottsburg is a city within Vienna Township, Scott County, Indiana, Vienna Township and the county seat of Scott County, Indiana, Scott County, in the U.S. state of Indiana, about north of Louisville, Kentucky. The population of Scottsburg was ...

, Cravens played college basketball at Brunswick Junior College in

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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

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for four years in the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

, then went to Utah under new head coach

Rick Majerus Richard Raymond Majerus (February 17, 1948 – December 1, 2012) was an American basketball coach and TV analyst. He coached at Marquette University (1983–1986), Ball State University (1987–1989), the University of Utah (1989–2004), and S ...

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 Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Cravens was hired as head coach at Idaho in

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in April

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, succeeding

Larry Eustachy Larry Robert Eustachy (born December 1, 1955 in Alameda, California) is an American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach of the Colorado State Rams He was previously the head coach at Idaho and Eustachy was the AP Co ...

, and led the Vandals on the

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for three seasons. After Idaho, he coached in

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that summer, then was an assistant at

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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

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(26–6 overall), but the Wildcats fell to fifth-seed

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

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 *Cravens became interim head coach at Utah prior to the seventh game of the 1989–90 season.

References

External links