Riverside City's Tom Craft selected as 2023 ACCFCA Coach of the Year
WACO, Texas – Riverside City College Head Coach Tom Craft has been named the 2023 American Community College Football Coaches Association (ACCFCA) Coach of the Year. The award will be presented to Craft during the 2024 American Football Coaches Association Convention on Tuesday, January 9, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Craft earned his second ACCFCA Coach of the Year honor after leading Riverside City to a 12-1 record and the program’s second California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championship under his watch. The Tigers beat Ventura College, 45-26, to claim the Southern California Football Association (SCFA) title, which earned their spot in the CCCAA title game against the College of San Mateo. Gabe Panikoski hit a 23-yard field goal as time expired to give RCC a 24-21 victory in the state championship.
Craft completed his 13th season at Riverside City and has a record of 146-20. Craft is the first California Community College head coach to win over 100 games at two different programs. He was the head coach at Palomar College from 1983-93 and again from 1998-2001, building a win-loss record of 115-56-1.
Craft began his coaching career at Palomar almost immediately after graduating from San Diego State University in 1977. He served as the Comets’ quarterbacks and receivers coach until he was named head coach in 1983. Craft guided Palomar to nine conference titles, three state championships, four Southern California championships and three national titles. In 1994, he headed back to his alma mater, San Diego State, as offensive coordinator, leading the Aztec offense to a Top 10 ranking in both total offense and scoring offense.
Craft returned to Palomar as head coach from 1998-2001 before being named head coach at San Diego State in 2002. In his four seasons as head coach, the Aztecs won 19 games and produced one of the best passing attacks in the country. Craft returned to the community college ranks in 2007 as offensive coordinator at Mt. San Antonio College. He helped the Mounties to three straight CCCAA State Championship games, winning the title in 2009.
In 2010, Craft took over a Riverside City. In his 13 seasons, Craft has led the Tigers to 12 conference titles, made 13 straight trips to the post-season, made 10 straight state playoff appearances and added a second CCCAA title this season. He owns the SCFA record for leading his last 23 teams to 23 straight postseason appearances. Craft has guided the Tigers to two undefeated seasons (2011 and 2019) and four undefeated regular seasons (2011, 2018, 2019, 2022).
About the ACCFCA: Before 2000, the two junior college associations, the California Community College Football Coaches Association, and the National Junior College Football Coaches Association, each had its own Coach of the Year. In 2000, the AFCA invited the organizations to meet at the AFCA Convention.
Three national goals were set: to form a national community college football coaches’ association, to study the possibility of a national championship game between the two organizations and to select a yearly National Coach of the Year who would be recognized by the AFCA. Their initial goal, to create an umbrella coaches association, has been accomplished.
In 2002, the American Community College Football Coaches Association selected its first national coach of the year, Michael White of Reedley College. Past winners of the ACCFCA Coach of the Year are: Troy Morrell, Butler Community College, 2003; Tim Hatten, Pearl River Community College, 2004; Don Dillon, American River College, 2005; John Featherstone, El Camino College, 2006; Jeff Chudy, Bakersfield College, 2007; Jeff Jordan, Butte College, 2008; Brad Franchione, Blinn College, 2009; Bob Jastrab, Mt. San Antonio College, 2010; Bert Williams, Georgia Military College, 2013; Buddy Stephens, East Mississippi Community College, 2011 and 2014; Mark McElroy, Saddleback College, 2015; Jeff Sims, Garden City Community College, 2016; Scott Strohmeier, Iowa Western Community College, 2012 and 2017; Steve Mooshagian, Ventura College, 2018; Tom Craft, Riverside City College, 2019; Kurt Taufa’asau, New Mexico Military Institute, 2021 and Drew Dallas, Hutchinson Community College, 2022.
(AFCA)