Matt Crenshaw - Men's Basketball Coach - Ball State University Athletics

Photo by: Tim Cowie Photography

Matt Crenshaw

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
mcrenshaw2@bsu.edu
Alma Mater:
IUPUI, 2004
Phone:
765-285-2892
Years at Ball State:
2nd season in 2019-20

Matt Crenshaw joined the Ball State men's basketball staff as an assistant coach in October 2018. The 2019-20 season was his second with the Cardinals.

Crenshaw spent the previous 12 years at his alma mater IUPUI, including the final seven as the Jaguars’ associate head coach, before coming to Muncie.

Crenshaw’s player development responsibilities are with the Cardinals’ guards and wings. Over his two seasons, he has mentored a pair of All-MAC guards in Tayler Persons and Ishmael El-Amin and the 2019-20 MAC Freshman of the Year in point guard Jarron Coleman.

He also serves as BSU’s co-defensive coordinator, scouting upcoming opponent offenses. He helped the Cardinals boast the MAC’s best scoring defense in 2019-20 on the way to a West Division championship. The team was primed for a postseason run as the No. 3 seed in the MAC Tournament before the tournament was canceled because of COVID-19.

“Matt has impeccable credentials as a player, as a coach and as a person,” Ball State head coach James Whitford said upon his hiring. “As we went through the process, that thing that stood out to me was that Matt has a real passion for helping young people develop. He has also been around Indiana for a long time and has done an unbelievable job recruiting the state, and that’s a key priority for us.”

Crenshaw’s time at IUPUI spanned the tenures of three head coaches, starting with his college coach Ron Hunter. He was instrumental in a pair of firsts, leading the Jaguars to their first NCAA Tournament as a player and helping the program to its first postseason victory as a coach.

That win came in the 2010 CBI, capping a season in which IUPUI came within one of the school record for victories with 25. That season also included one of the Jaguars’ two trips to the Summit League championship game during Crenshaw’s time on the bench.

Working with the IUPUI backcourt, Crenshaw notably coached future NBA player George Hill in his early years on the staff. He helped Hill develop into the Summit League Player of the Year and become just the second player from the conference ever to be drafted.

“I’m really excited to join Coach Whitford, his staff and this Ball State community,” Crenshaw said upon his arrival in Muncie. “This team has been consistently getting better each year. Being at IUPUI, I had a chance to see a lot of these guys play. It was obviously tough leaving my alma mater and the players there, but I felt like it was time for me and this was something I couldn’t pass up.”

A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Crenshaw spent six years in the Navy after high school before enrolling at IUPUI. He went on to become IUPUI’s all-time assists leader with 510.

Crenshaw notably sent the Jaguars to the 2003 NCAA Tournament with a buzzer beater to defeat Valparaiso in the Mid-Continent Conference championship game. He was also the league’s defensive player of the year as a senior.

After graduating from the university in 2004, Crenshaw spent two years playing professionally, spending time in Slovakia and Poland in addition to the ABA. A member of a national championship team in Slovakia, he eventually returned home to complete his career with the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels.