Richard K. Croy (born July 19, 1977) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the

California Baptist Lancers men's basketball The California Baptist Lancers men's basketball team represents California Baptist University in the Western Athletic Conference. The team made the jump into Division I basketball on July 1, 2018. They are currently led by head coach Rick Croy a ...

team. Croy has been a basketball coach since 1999 and has held his current position at California Baptist since 2013. Croy grew up in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek ser ...

and played college basketball at

San Francisco State San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. He began his basketball coaching career as an assistant at

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

and

Concordia University Irvine Concordia University Irvine is a private Lutheran university in Irvine, California, United States. It was established in 1976 to provide a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod college to serve the Pacific Southwest and provide training for pastors, ...

. His first head coaching position was at the junior college level at

Citrus College Citrus College is a public community college in Glendora, California. The Citrus Community College District, which supports the institution, includes the communities of Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora and Monrovia. Founded in 1915 by educato ...

from 2005 to 2010. Under Croy, Citrus won 130 games, three conference titles, and a California state championship. At California Baptist, Croy led the Lancers to five straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances from 2014 to 2018 and two

Pacific West Conference The Pacific West Conference (also known as the PacWest) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in California and Hawaii. Th ...

titles. In 2018, California Baptist moved to Division I as a member of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

; Croy led California Baptist to an appearance in the

2019 College Basketball Invitational The 2019 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination men's college basketball tournament consisting of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the 2019 NCAA Men's Divisio ...

, and California Baptist had winning records in its first three Division I seasons.

Playing career

Croy attended Northgate High School in

where he was a part of the 1995

CIF Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...

State Championship team. In college, Croy holds the school record for three-point field goals, is second all-time in games played, and eighth all-time in scoring at

where he graduated in 1999.

Coaching career

After graduation, Croy began his coaching career in 1999 as an assistant coach at

for two seasons before moving on to Concordia for another season. He made his return as an assistant coach with the Highlanders, where he stayed from 2002 to 2005 before accepting the head coaching position at

CCCAA The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

institution

. While at Citrus, he led the Owls to three-straight Western State Conference South titles, the 2008 California State Championship and the 2010

California Community College Athletic Association The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

Final Four. He was also named a three-time WSC Coach of the Year. During this five years at Citrus, Croy compiled a 130–35 record, which is second all-time in school history for total wins, and first all-time in winning percentage. In 2010, Croy joined

Randy Bennett Randall William Bennett (born June 9, 1962) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Saint Mary's College of California. He led the team to several second-place finishes and seven NCAA tournament ap ...

's staff at St. Mary's, where he stayed until 2013 before becoming the 12th head men's basketball coach in California Baptist history on April 2, 2013. Since joining the Lancers, Croy guided the team to the

NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament (officially styled by the NCAA as a "Championship" instead of a "Tournament") is an annual championship tournament for colleges and universities that are members of NCAA Division II, a grouping of ...

every season before its transition to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

and the

for the 2018–19 season.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croy, Rick Living people 1977 births American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from California California Baptist Lancers men's basketball coaches Citrus Owls men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball coaches San Francisco State Gators men's basketball players Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Basketball players from Contra Costa County, California UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players