Dennis Craddock
Coaching
Inducted: 2021
- Born in Danville, VA, September 20, 1945
- First-generation college graduate, attending Ferrum and Lynchburg Colleges as an undergrad and getting a master’s degree from the University of Virginia
- Played football and was MVP of the track + field team at Ferrum
- Began 45-year coaching career at Gretna High School in VA
- Also coached at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, VA
- Moved to the collegiate level at UVA in 1975, coaching cross country and the indoor and outdoor track and field teams for 10 years
- Won two NCAA championships in women’s cross country in 1981 and 1982 and a women’s indoor national title in 1981
- Led the women’s team to three outdoor titles from 1983-1985
- His UVA men’s teams claimed four Top 20 NCAA finishes
- Coached the same sports at the University of North Carolina beginning in 1985
- His UNC teams claimed 45 Atlantic Coast Conference championships; previously the Tar Heels had won just one indoor and one outdoor ACC title
- Coached 25 Tar Heels to 38 NCAA Championship performances
- Coached 19 Olympians who won five gold and two bronze medals
- His teams claimed more ACC titles than any other coach of any sport in history
- Only NCAA Division I coach to ever lead a team to a Triple Crown (titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor track in the same academic year) doing it twice, once in 1994-1995 and again in 2004-2005
- Annual meet at UNC named after him in honor of 27 years of service to the school
- Most award-winning track and field coach in ACC history, earning National Coach of the Year in 1995 for men’s indoor track and field and the ACC Coach of the Year Award 31 times
- Inducted into the Ferrum College Sports, Lynchburg College Athletics and United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association Halls of Fames
- More than 96 percent of his athletes earned their degrees
- Remained involved in UNC track and field even after his retirement in 2012
- Passed away unexpectedly on August 13, 2019
