Barry Craddock

After guiding his alma mater's storied program during the 2019-20 academic year as interim coach, Barry Craddock has been named the full-time head coach of The College of Wooster baseball team, interim director of athletics Kristyn King announced on Friday.

"The combination of Barry's passion for The College of Wooster, his longtime tenure within our baseball program, and his overall experience has made this a natural transition within our program," said King. "We are confident he will continue the standard of excellence both in the classroom and on the field that has been established for our student-athletes and look forward to the ongoing success of this program under Barry's leadership."

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to lead the baseball program at my alma mater for years to come, and to provide continued leadership and stability for our players to continue to compete for championships," said Craddock. "I'm very thankful for the support of our players, our players' parents, our alumni, Coach Pettorini, as well as my family, in helping me reach this place in my career. I'd like to thank Sarah Bolton, Lisa Perfetti, and Kristyn King for believing in me and entrusting the program in my hands for future generations of Fighting Scots."

Craddock's played a large part in Wooster posting a 407-154 record since rejoining the staff prior to the 2008 season. Since Craddock's return to the Art Murray dugout, the Fighting Scots have advanced to the NCAA Div. III World Series twice, with the 2009 squad finishing as the national runner-up. Within the North Coast Athletic Conference, Wooster's won the league title eight times during Craddock's second stretch with the Scots, including four straight from 2016-19, a first in NCAC history.

Craddock previously was an assistant coach at Wooster from 1996-99. The Scots went 154-43-1 during those four years and reached the 1997 NCAA Div. III national championship game.

In between his stints at Wooster, Craddock transformed the Denison University baseball program from an also-ran into a regular contender for championships in the NCAC. Overall, he compiled a then-school-record 183 victories (183-120) from 2000-07. Highlighting Craddock's tenure were a pair of 30-win seasons, and under him, the Big Red advanced to the finals of the NCAC Tournament three times (2003, 2004, 2005).

During his time as a student at Wooster, Craddock was a member of a Mideast Regional championship team. It was his senior season (1994), when the left-hander went 3-2 with two saves, a 4.32 ERA, and 33 strikeouts over 56 1/3 innings. Over his career, Craddock appeared in 52 games and earned seven saves – the third-most in team history in both categories upon graduation.

A native of nearby Rittman, Ohio, Craddock earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the College.