Cleveland High’s Crider to Resign as Boys’ Coach

Kevin Crider, boys’ basketball coach at Cleveland High for six seasons, said Wednesday he will submit his resignation today.

Crider said he came close to quitting after the Cavaliers struggled to a 7-15 record last season, but was persuaded to return by principal Eileen Banta. Crider said he enjoyed the support of some administrators but felt pressure to win from others. He would not elaborate.

His Cleveland teams won two Northwest Valley Conference titles and reached the City Section semifinals once.

The Cavaliers (15-9) won the conference championship this season even though Tony Hoggatts, Akua Floyd and Marcus Baldwin were ineligible for various reasons. Cleveland lost to Carson in the first round of the City 4-A playoffs last Friday.

“He’d been telling us for a while that he wasn’t coming back,” junior center Mike Schultz said. “He helped me a lot. I went from not playing much on JV to starting on varsity in one year.”

Crider, who teaches physical education at Cleveland, said he would entertain other coaching offers.

“Right now I’m open to anything,” Crider said. “I just know I’m done coaching at Cleveland.”