 
In his seventh year with the Long Beach State program, John Crutchfield will serve as the 49er Administrative Assistant for the second consecutive year after spending the previous five years as the Volunteer Assistant Coach. "Crutch" has proven to be an integral part of the Long Beach State coaching staff. He has played and coached the game of volleyball for over 36 years, and still continues to play on the beach and indoors in adult volleyball leagues. A lifelong Long Beach resident and avid supporter of 49er Volleyball, he brings boundless enthusiasm and attention to detail along with his knowledge of playing and coaching the game. For seven seasons prior to joining Head Coach Alan Knipe's staff in 2001, Crutchfield was the Head Coach of the Wilson High School's Varsity program, where he also taught U.S. History, World History, Career Guidance and Criminal Law. While teaching and coaching at Wilson he wrote the curriculum for Career Guidance for the Long Beach Unified School District, served as Faculty President and was twice selected as Teacher of the Year by the student body. Prior to that he served as the Head Varsity Coach at Servite High School and began his high school coaching career at Santa Monica High School in 1989, coaching alongside Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Sato, and the legendary Butch May. A graduate of USC undergraduate(B.S., 1975) and law schools (Juris Doctor, 1978), Crutchfield practiced full time as a trial attorney until 1993. He currently serves as a legal consultant for the Law Office of Bradon C. Bodnar in Long Beach. While still practicing law full time, Crutchfield began coaching boys' club volleyball in 1990 and has taken eight teams to the Junior Olympics. His teams won the National Championship gold medal in 2002, the bronze medal in 2005 and have never placed below fifth in the country. Four of his former players (Justin May, Kevin Cape, Dustin Watten and Jon Sutton) are members of this year's 49er volleyball team. Crutch is currently the Head Coach of the Riptides 16 Orange Team. In addition to his high school, club and LBSU coaching experience, Crutchfield was selected to serve as an Assistant Coach for the National Youth A-2 Team this summer at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He has also served as coach for the USA Volleyball High Performance and Youth National Camps and Regional Tryouts in California and Ohio, as well as assisting Coach Knipe at each of his outstanding Summer Volleyball Camps since 1998. Crutchfield lives in Long Beach with Kelly, his wife of 18 years, and his 17-year-old son, Troy. Troy is already an accomplished volleyball player having won the gold medal in 2002, silver medal in 2003 and bronze medal in 2005 at the Junior Olympics. In 2005, he was one of 25 players selected for the 16 and Under National Team while receiving all-league recognition as a sophomore on the Wilson HS volleyball team. |
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