Denney Crabaugh has built the winningest baseball program in the nation over the past 10 years and a hall of fame career in 20 years at Oklahoma City University.
Crabaugh’s teams have contended for titles on a regular basis. The Stars recorded four consecutive appearances in the NAIA championship game from 2002-05, culminating in the 2005 national title.
For his efforts, Crabaugh was named Rawlings-NAIA coach of the year. He became the sixth coach to win the award twice – Crabaugh was also named 2003 ABCA/Diamond Sports Company NAIA Coach of the Year. He has been named Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association coach of the year in 1992, 2002 and 2005. With his achievements, Crabaugh was inducted into the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Assocation Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame, the highest honor in the NAIA.
Crabaugh guided the 2004 team to 73 wins, besting the NAIA single-season record. Under Crabaugh, OCU has won six conference titles, five regional crowns, five area titles and been to the NAIA World Series eight times. The Stars have won 50 games 10 years in a row. Off the field, OCU has been NAIA scholar baseball team four times for achieving a 3.0 team grade-point average.
His association with the program dates back to 1987 when he came to OCU as an assistant coach to Charley Lodes. Since then, Crabaugh has coached 102 future professionials, 59 all-Americans, 44 academic all-Americans and four national players of the year. OCU alums coached by Crabaugh to reach the majors include the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Freddy Sanchez, the National League batting champion, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Joe Bisenius and Washington Nationals pitcher Chris Schroder.
Crabaugh came to OCU from Ada High School where he posted a 15-15 record as head coach. He also coached the Ada American Legion team to the AAA State Legion Championship. Before going to Ada, Crabaugh spent four years as an assistant at Ardmore High School. Crabaugh began his coaching career as graduate assistant and pitching coach for Mike Metheny at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
As a student-athlete, Crabaugh attended Rose State College, Oklahoma State and Southeastern. In 1980, Crabaugh pitched two no-hitters for Southeastern to cap his senior season. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences in 1980 and a master’s degree in school administration in 1981 from Southeastern.
The Del City, Okla., native and his wife, Sue, have four children; Kaylee, Mindy, Cody and Amy.
