In his 24th year as a head coach, Jim Crews begins his seventh campaign at the helm of Army’s men’s basketball program. He became the 29th head coach in the history of intercollegiate basketball at West Point when he was hired in March 2002.

Ranked among the nation’s winningest active coaches in terms of career victories, Crews enters the 2008-09 season with 343 wins, which places him 50th on that list.    

Crews’ primary missions remain leading the Black Knights to the top of the Patriot League and a return to postseason play. Army has taken major steps toward that goal during the last two seasons. In 2006-07, Crews guided the squad to 15 victories, Army’s best win total since the 1984-85 campaign. The win total marked a 10-game improvement from 2005-06, making it the best single-season turnaround since the 1963-64 squad went from eight wins to 19 victories. 

Crews and the Black Knights continued the upward trend in 2007-08 with six Patriot League victories, tying the program’s high-water mark. The Black Knights’ 29 wins in the last two seasons are the most in any two-year period since the 1977-78 and 1978-79 squads combined for 33 victories under the direction of MIke Krzyzewski. Crews guided the Black Knights to their second consecutive appearance in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, a first for the program in more than 10 seasons.

Crews’ players have also had individual successes. The fourth-longest tenured men’s basketball coach in Academy history, Crews has mentored a pair of 1,000-point scorers, including 2008 graduate Jarell Brown. Brown was chosen first-team All-Patriot League following his senior season, marking the first Black Knights first-team all-league pick since 1999. In addition, Josh Miller was named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team, a first for the program since 1995.   

Crews is certainly adept at helping build outstanding programs, having played at and coached for perennial Big Ten and national power Indiana University prior to a successful 17-year run as head coach at the University of Evansville that preceded his arrival at the Academy.  

“I am very grateful to have the opportunity to serve as head basketball coach at the United States Military Academy,” Crews says. “It is a tremendous honor to be associated with an institution like West Point and everything it represents. It is a great privilege to work with the young men and women of West Point. It is exciting and rewarding to interact with the future leaders of our nation on a daily basis.  

Credited with presiding over one of the country’s most highly-regarded Division I basketball programs at Evansville for the better part of two decades, Crews led the Purple Aces to six postseason appearances, including four trips to the NCAA Tournament. All six of those teams registered at least 21 victories. During his tenure, Evansville recorded 15 consecutive seasons of at least .500 finishes in conference play. Only eight other schools among the nation’s 321 Division I members could make that claim during the same span.  

Named the 1999 Rawlings Missouri Valley Conference “Coach of the Year,” Crews guided the Purple Aces to a 23-10 record, a regular season league championship and their fourth NCAA tourney appearance in 14 years. It marked the fourth time that the native of Normal, Ill., garnered league coach of the year plaudits after having been similarly cited by the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1987, 1989 and 1992.   

Crews is the only coach in the tradition-rich history of Evansville to register nine consecutive non-losing seasons. Before Crews, no coach at UE had ever produced more than seven straight seasons with a record of at least .500. That includes legendary Arad McCutchan, the first college division coach ever inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Crews was named to the Evansville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.  

While he has built an impressive  resume’ on the basketball court, Crews is viewed just as highly off it. Fifty-two of the 53 players who spent four years with the Purple Aces’ program during Crews’ tenure earned undergraduate degrees. Every senior in his final dozen years departed Evansville with a degree.   

Crews was very active in the local community, particularly aiding youth in the Evansville area. The “Jim Crews Reading Aces” program, in conjunction with Fifth/Third Bank, received national recognition from the NCAA for its work in helping students succeed in the classroom. Crews and his players visited area schools regularly, encouraging reading in particular and academic success in general. Boys and girls who met their reading goals in the Reading Aces program received free tickets to an Evansville game.  

The veteran mentor also served on the board of directors for the Evansville Boys & Girls Club, which provides after-school and weekend programs for Evansville youngsters, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Crews has continued his record of community service since taking over the Army program. During each of the past three summers, he has travelled to the Middle East as part of a basketball tour sponsored by the USO. Crews has been part of Operation Hardwood, where  participating coaches guided military basketball teams featuring the best military players as they compete in a championship tournament, on two occasions. In 2008, he traveled with Operation Hoop Talk, visting troops at military outposts, signing autographs, sharing insider tips and hosting basketball clinics.  

“Our goal when we began this coaching search was to find someone who had demonstrated the ability to recruit, coach and win at the highest level; someone possessing impeccable character worthy of a leadership position at this great institution; and someone boasting the necessary energy to restore the competitive pride in our men’s basketball program,” said Rick Greenspan, who was Army’s director of athletics at the time of Crews’ hiring. “I have long admired the type of program Jim built at Evansville,” Greenspan continued. “I have always been impressed with him as a coach and leader. Not only has he experienced a great deal of success at the highest level on the basketball court, his young men have achieved great things outside the gym as well. Throughout his career, he has done a terrific job of producing tremendous basketball players and tremendous members of society. He has shaped his life following the same bedrock values so vital to the Military Academy. He is a man of unquestioned character and boasts a phenomenal basketball mind. We are very fortunate to have Jim Crews at West Point. He brings instant credibility to our basketball program.”  

Former U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox Jr. echoed those sentiments.  

“In addition to being an outstanding basketball coach, we feel Jim Crews personifies everything the U.S. Military Academy stands for,” Lennox explained. “He has built a winning reputation, both on the court and off. We feel very strongly that Jim is the perfect individual to lead our basketball program to future success.”  

A member of Indiana University’s 1976 National Championship team, Crews lettered four years for the Hoosiers from 1972 to 1976 under legendary head coach Bob Knight. During his time in the “Crimson and Cream,” Indiana forged a remarkable 108-12 (.900) overall record, including a stellar 59-5 (.922) mark in Big Ten Conference games. Indiana claimed conference titles in each of those seasons. As a senior, Crews helped the Hoosiers to a 32-0 record en route to becoming the NCAA’s most recent undefeated National Champions.  

After graduating from IU, Crews spent one year in the private sector before returning to his alma mater for eight years as an assistant on Knight’s coaching staff. During that highly successful period, the Hoosiers captured the National Championship in 1981 and claimed three Big Ten championships (1980, 1981 and 1983). Indiana posted a 174-76 (.696) overall record and a 94-50 (.653) Big Ten Conference slate during Crews’ stint as an assistant in Bloomington.  

Crews departed Indiana in 1985 to accept the head coaching reins at Evansville. Three years after inheriting a struggling Purple Aces program, Crews guided Evansville to a 21-8 record and a berth in the National Invitation Tournament. It marked the Aces’ first postseason appearance in six years. The following season, Evansville finished 25-6 and earned the first of four trips to the NCAA Tournament under Crews’ watch.  

Four 20-victory seasons would follow, including a three-year stretch from 1992 to 1994 in which the Purple Aces topped the 20-win mark each year. Evansville authored a sparkling 68-24 (.739) ledger during that span, earning consecutive trips to the NCAA tourney in 1992 and 1993, and a visit to the NIT in 1994.   

Entering the 2001-02 season, Evansville was one of just 21 Division I schools that had captured at least five regular season conference championships in the previous 15 years. Under Crews, the Purple Aces won Midwestern Collegiate Conference titles in 1987, 1989, 1992 and 1993, as well as the Missouri Valley Conference championship in 1999. Evansville’s run to the 1999 MVC title came during one of the league’s best seasons ever. In fact, three MVC teams were chosen for the NCAA Tournament that year, including Evansville, which garnered an at-large bid for the second time during the “Crews Era.” The Purple Aces also recorded conference tournament championships in 1992 and 1993. In February 2002, Crews coached his 500th game at the Indiana institution. During his time in Evansville, 19 Purple Aces players moved on to the professional ranks.  

Jim and his wife, Kim, reside at West Point. They have two children, daughter, Abby and son, Todd.