SAN MARCOS, Texas — Chanté Crutchfield has been appointed to the Texas State women's basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, Bobcat head coach Zenarae Antoine announced Wednesday afternoon.  

"Coach Crutchfield is a perfect fit for our program," Antoine said. "Her ability to connect with the student-athletes and foster an environment of compassion is evident when you meet her. She is a veteran coach who has left a positive path at every stop in her career and most recently that includes a tournament championship. 

"Coach Crutchfield hails from our great state of Texas and we are excited to welcome her home. It's a great day to be a Bobcat!"

"I am extremely blessed and honored to be returning home to the great state of Texas to be closer to my family," Crutchfield said. "Coach Z has afforded me an opportunity to join her staff, learn from her and assist in taking the program to an even higher level.  She is very family-oriented, supportive of her staff and makes sure her players are taken care of at every point.  

"I am excited and ready to get into the trenches and work to bring a Women's Basketball Sun Belt Conference Championship home to Texas State."

Crutchfield, a native of Waco who received her bachelor's degree from UTA before earning a master's at Baylor, comes to San Marcos following a six-year stint as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball program in the Ohio Valley Conference.  

During her time on the Redhawk coaching staff, Crutchfield's recruiting efforts were instrumental in the record-breaking talent on the program with the likes of Tesia Thompson, Carrie Shephard, Taelour Pruitt among many more who led them to their first conference tournament championship and NCAA Tournament Bid in 13 years.  

Crutchfield recruited and signed Thompson, an ESPN Top 100 in the 2017 class. Thompson went on to earn the OVC's Freshman of the Year as well as be named to the All-OVC Second Team and All-Newcomer Team following the 2018 season. As a sophomore, Thompson was named to the All-OVC First Team, before being selected as the OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player for her performance throughout the 2020 OVC Tournament.  

Prior to her arrival at Southeast, Crutchfield was the head coach at Crowley High School, where she led her team to a 23-8 record during the 2014-15 season and coached Taelour Pruitt who she would later sign at Southeast Missouri. Her stint at Crowley High capped a seven-year span of head girls' basketball coaching experience at the high school level for Crutchfield, which also included guiding Teaira McCowan at Brenham. McCowan went on to play for the USA U18 National Team that won gold, before being drafted No. 3 overall in the 2019 WNBA Draft following a standout career at Mississippi State University.  

After serving as a graduate assistant coach for Kim Mulkey at Baylor from 2000-02, Crutchfield went on to serve as the Director of Operations for the Houston Comets organization in the WNBA to proceed her successful stint as a high school girls basketball head coach.   
 
What they are saying about Coach Chanté Crutchfield …  
 
"Chanté's footprints are all over this program and we won a championship, because of her efforts in recruiting and player management. While we will miss her, we are excited for her and this opportunity to be back in the state of Texas." 
 
Rekha Patterson 
Head Women's Basketball Coach 
Southeast Missouri  
 
"I'm so proud of Chanté. She's an outstanding coach and an extremely hard worker who continues to climb the coaching ladder. Texas State is very lucky to have someone like Chanté join their staff. I know she's going to do a great job there."
 
Kim Mulkey
Head Women's Basketball Coach
LSU