Craig Doty has been officially announced as the new head men’s basketball coach at Houston Christian. Doty has spent the last six seasons as the head coach at D-II Emporia State (KS), where he has gone 97-76 overall with one NCAA Tournament appearance.
“We are thrilled to welcome Craig Doty, his wife Alexys, and his children, Braylon, Calvin, Amery and Sienna, to the HCU family,” AD Steve Moniaci said in a statement. “Craig has proven his ability to win at every level he has coached at while also ensuring his players excel in the classroom and in their community. It quickly became evident during our coaching search that Coach Doty was the best fit for our program, and University, and we fully expect him to come in and achieve great things at HCU.”
Doty is a South Dakota native who played – and later got his coaching career started – at NAIA Morningside in Sioux City, Iowa. This will be his first Division I coaching job but his fourth head coaching opportunity, with earlier stints at NCJAA Rock Valley College (IL) and NAIA Graceland (IA) before he was hired at Emporia in 2018. He led Graceland to 29 wins and a NAIA National Championship in 2017-18.
He replaces Ron Cottrell, who coached the program for the last 33 years, a tenure that started with him relaunching the program in 1991 and later transitioning back up to D-I in 2008. The school, previously known as Houston Baptist, has been to the D-I NCAA Tournament just once – in 1984.
credit to Houston Christian Athletics for the image
