Thomas Jay Craft (born November 12, 1953) is an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former quarterback, who served as the head coach of the Riverside City Tigers from August 2010 until his retirement in December 2024. He played

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 ...

Monterey Peninsula The Monterey Peninsula anchors the northern portion on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California and comprises the cities of Monterey, California, Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, Carmel, and Pacific Grove, California, P ...

and

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

. He then served as the head football coach

Palomar Palomar may refer to: Places * Any of several locations in San Diego County, California: ** Palomar Mountain *** Palomar Mountain, California, an unincorporated community ** Palomar College in San Marcos, California *** Palomar College Transit Ce ...

from 1983 to 1993 and at San Diego State from 2002 to 2005. Craft is the father of former UCLA quarterback

Kevin Craft Kevin Craft (born October 15, 1985) is a former American football quarterback and Head Coach for the IBM Big Blue in the Japanese X-League. He played college football at UCLA. Early life Craft attended Valley Center High School in Valley C ...

Career

Craft graduated from

Pacific Grove High School Pacific Grove High School (PGHS) is a public high school located in Pacific Grove, California, between Carmel and Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located ...

, in

Pacific Grove, California Pacific Grove is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city had a population of 15,090 at the 2020 census. Pacific Grove is a popular tourist destination on ...

, and thereafter played

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 ...

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

. After serving as an assistant coach at

Palomar College Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. Academics Palomar College off ...

from 1977 to 1982 and with the school openly questioning its commitment to football, he took over head coaching duties in 1983. After a pair of 4–6 seasons, the Comets' fortunes began to improve. By the time Craft left the San Marcos school for the Aztec coordinator's job in 1994, Palomar was coming off a three-year stretch of 31–2, had an offense ranked among the nation's top five for five consecutive years and was sporting two national championships. Craft returned to Palomar in 1997 and was the head coach from 1997-2001. At Palomar, Craft coached seven All-American quarterbacks: Duffy Daughtery, Scott Barrick,

Brett Salisbury Brett Jon Salisbury (born October 11, 1968) is a former college football quarterback at University of Oregon, BYU, and Wayne State College. Early life Salisbury, the younger brother of former NFL quarterback Sean Salisbury, grew up in Escondid ...

, Andy Loveland,

Tom Luginbill Tom Luginbill (born January 3, 1974) is a former professional American football quarterback and coach. He is currently a college football analyst for ESPN. Playing career Luginbill was the starting quarterback for three colleges over his f ...

, Greg Cicero, and Andy Goodenough. He compiled an overall record of 115–56 and three national junior college football championships at Palomar. Craft served as the head football coach at

from 2002 to 2005. Under his tenure, San Diego State developed a reputation of playing the tough teams well but lacked consistency and never had a winning season. In 2004, San Diego State lost to #17 Michigan 24–21 and in 2005, lost 24–21 to #20 TCU. San Diego State fired Craft at the end of the 2005 season. Craft was the associate head coach and

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 ...

Mount San Antonio College Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) is a public community college in Walnut, California. It offers more than 400 degree and certificate programs, 36 support programs, and more than 50 student clubs and athletic programs, including food pantry, c ...

Walnut, California Walnut is a city in the eastern part of Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. According to the 2020 census, the city had a population of 28,430. The greater Walnut Valley is located between the steep San Jose Hills to the nort ...

from 2007-2009. He served as the head football coach at

Riverside City College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

, from August 2010 until his retirement in December 2024.

Head coaching record

College

Junior college football

References

External links

Riverside City profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craft, Tom 1953 births Living people American football quarterbacks Monterey Peninsula Lobos football players Mt. SAC Mounties football coaches Palomar Comets football coaches Riverside City Tigers football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football players People from Pacific Grove, California Players of American football from Iowa City, Iowa Players of American football from Monterey County, California Coaches of American football from California