Forged by FAU - Earnest Crumbley
1/17/2021
“I have nothing but great memories at FAU and I was always very appreciative of the opportunity to go there. It’s something I never took for granted. It’s something I harp on with any of my kids that I coach now: make sure you go somewhere where there are people that’ll take care of you, that are going to look out for your best interest and you’re also going to be able to learn something that you can take with you as you move up as a person.”
Former Florida Atlantic University hooper Earnest Crumbley Jr. wanted to coach for as long as he can remember. The self-proclaimed “basketball fanatic” has proof, too: his fifth-grade yearbook pegged him as one in its future career section.
“It’s kind of something I always knew I wanted to do,” Crumbley Jr. said. “It’s something I have a passion for.”
A former JUCO head coach and DI assistant at UNF, Crumbley Jr. is entering his fourth year as an assistant coach at St. Petersburg College. It’s a homecoming for Crumbley Jr., a St. Petersburg native – in more ways than one. The Titans’ head coach is Earnest Crumbley Sr., Crumbley Jr.’s father and someone who led him to the profession.
“When I had an opportunity to coach with my dad, that’s one of those things that I thought was a rare opportunity that most people don’t get to do,” Crumbley Jr. said of his father, Florida’s longest tenured college basketball coach and an FCSAA Hall of Fame inductee. “Not only being around him as a person, but also picking his brain was something I thought would be a great experience for me, something we could cherish as far as our father-son relationship for the rest of our lives.”
A father-son experience nearly two decades prior was as integral to Crumbley Jr.’s basketball journey. In 2000, Crumbley Jr. and his father visited FAU to meet then-coach Sidney Green. Crumbley Jr. considered other programs heading into that trip but none stood out to him.
That soon changed. Green, with his longtime NBA background and promises of early playing time, sold Crumbley Jr. on FAU. Crumbley Jr. signed with the Owls ahead of the 2000-2001 season.
“It turned out to be a good experience for me,” Crumbley Jr. said.
That’s putting it lightly. Crumbley Jr., who starred for the Owls from 2000-2003, made the Atlantic Sun All-Decade team (2000-2009) and remains the program’s all-time leader in steals (181). He’s second to this day, all-time, in points scored (1,559), assists (505) and made 3-pointers (286).
Crumbley Jr. also led the Owls to their first ever NCAA Tournament berth as a freshman, an experience even a first-round loss to Alabama won’t make him forget.
“Having that opportunity to do that, play on that stage, just the adrenaline, the energy, the excitement of it and having the opportunity to perform well in the game was a dream come true,” Crumbley Jr. said. “It was one of those situations where, from a basketball standpoint, you can kind of check that off your bucket list because that’s something that every kid dreams of doing.”
That NCAA Tournament experience is more than a fond memory to Crumbley Jr; it’s also a coaching asset. Crumbley Jr. can explain to his players what playing on national TV and in the NCAA Tournament is like because he did both at FAU.
FAU also taught Crumbley Jr. how to get along with people from various cultures and backgrounds. And if he could play with teammates from Kansas to Lithuania, he could certainly coach and recruit them.
“You’re recruiting kids literally from around the world, trying to bring them together and blend those personalities to get the best out of the group,” Crumbley Jr. said. “That’s one of the main lessons I learned from FAU: being able to deal with different kinds of people, getting them on the same page and for one common goal.”
Crumbley Jr. realized his longtime coaching dream thanks largely to his experience and scholarship at FAU. And because the university took such good care of him, he’s committed to finding the players he coaches now equally beneficial college experiences.
“I have nothing but great memories at FAU and I was always very appreciative of the opportunity to go there,” Crumbley Jr. said. “It’s something I never took for granted. It’s something I harp on with any of my kids that I coach now: make sure you go somewhere where there are people that’ll take care of you, that are going to look out for your best interest and you’re also going to be able to learn something that you can take with you as you move up as a person.”