After a decade as Hobart’s head coach and nearly two decades of service to the Colleges, Mike Cragg has established the Statesmen as one of the premier football programs in the region. He is Hobart’s all-time leader in career wins and wins per season and is second in winning percentage and games coached.

Cragg enters his 12th season in charge of the Hobart football team with a 73-37 (.664) career record that includes all five of Hobart’s postseason appearances. His Statesmen have earned a postseason bid in five of the past six seasons, including back-to-back NCAA regional semifinal appearances. Under his direction, Hobart has finished atop the Liberty League five times, including three of the past four seasons.

In 2005, the Statesmen posted a 9-2 record, marking the 10th consecutive season at .500 or above. The streak bests the longest run of sustained success produced by teams led by Tryon (1951-58) and Vincent Welch (1921-28). The nine wins matches the program record for wins in a season established by Hobart’s 1896 and 2004 squads.

Last season, Hobart led the Liberty League in turnover margin, scoring defense, rushing defense, punt returns, pass efficiency, and pass efficiency defense, while raking in the top 30 in the nation in turnover margin (21st) and scoring defense (16.5 ppg). Cragg’s charges cleaned up in the postseason accolades, collecting 14 All-Liberty League honors and the Defensive Player of the Year Award (Tony Clemente ’06).

Cragg, who has served as the team’s defensive coordinator since 1991, directed the 2000 Statesmen into the NCAA records book. The Hobart secondary, aided by a relentless pass rush, broke the NCAA Division III record for lowest pass completion percentage allowed. Hobart opponents were successful on just 31.3 percent (79-of-252) of their pass attempts, eclipsing the old mark, 33.5, set by Plymouth State in 1987. At the close of the regular season, Cragg’s defense ranked first in the nation in pass efficiency defense, sixth in scoring defense, eighth in turnover margin, and 12th in total defense.

Cragg has mentored several All-Americans, including consensus All-Americans Dave Russell ’98 and Alex Bell ’05. Several Statesmen have gone on to play football professionally, including Bell who recently signed with the New York Giants as a free agent.

Named the 23rd head coach of the Hobart football program in January of 1995, Cragg is one of the veteran members of the Statesmen family, joining the football staff in 1986. He also served as the head coach of the tennis team for three seasons, compiling an overall record of 36-10 and three conference championships.

Cragg came to Hobart after serving as the head coach of the varsity football program at Corry High School in Corry, Pa. He led Corry to a third-place finish in the Erie County League in his first year, a first-ever appearance in the District X Playoffs in 1986, and was named Coach of the Year.

A 1983 graduate of Slippery Rock University with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education, Cragg was a two-year letterwinner for the Rock at free safety and linebacker. He still owns a share of the school’s single game interception record (3 vs. Edinboro, 1980). His senior season was short-circuited by a knee injury, so he got an early jump on his coaching career, assisting the Slippery Rock staff with the defensive backs.

Cragg and his wife, Holley, live in Geneva with their two children, Michael and Kristen Alexandria.

Clip 1, 2