TRADING PURPLE FOR BLUE: Pat Craig Has Many Happy Memories From Playing Days at Karns City, But Now Focused on Coaching Career at Clarion-Limestone

KARNS CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Pat Craig stepped on the gym floor at Karns City High School and peered around.

A lot has changed since he was draining shots as a Gremlin more than 20 years ago. The gym has received major facelifts over that time.

But the memories are all the same for Craig, now the head boys basketball coach at Clarion-Limestone.

(Pictured above, Clarion-Limestone coach Pat Craig)

“It was cool to come back,” Craig said, smiling. “I was like, ‘Man, I want to put my shoes on and come play again.’ It’s a cool place to come back and play.”

Craig had a standout career in purple and gold for Karns City.

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He finished with 1,336 points when he graduated in 2002 and he was a member of some exceptional Karns City teams during his time in uniform.

During Craig’s senior year, the Gremlins went 27-2, winning the District 9 Class 2A title and advancing to the PIAA quarterfinals.

“Everybody talks about the points, but I look up there and the important ones are the district banners,” Craig said. “Those were special teams. We had a very good, competitive group of guys like Brian Hilderbrand. He was a tough-nosed kiddo. Joe Callihan and Ian Ferguson. Just really competitive guys, whether it was basketball or ping pong, they wanted to win and it was fun to play with them.”

Craig shared that competitive drive.

He’s carried that now into his latest challenge as the coach of the C-L boys basketball team.

Craig served as an assistant under Joe Ferguson for the last two years and took over the role of head coach when Ferguson retired after last season.

Ferguson spent 17 years on the bench at C-L, winning 284 games and two D9 championships.

Last year the Lions won a school-record 25 games, including KSAC and D9 titles.

Craig was the logical successor.

Craig has two sons on the team — senior Jack Craig and freshman Paul Craig.

He has two more boys coming up through the ranks — Ian, who will be 12 next week, and Eric, 10. He also has a four-year-old girl

“We have the entire basketball team,” Craig said, grinning.

Craig played at Clarion University. That’s where he met his wife, Jessica (Smith) Craig, who was a standout athlete at Clarion-Limestone.

She was a track star, holding the school record in the 200-meter dash at 26.0 seconds. She was also a standout basketball player, but tore her ACL at Clarion University, which derailed her career.

After, she became involved in long-distance running and participated in the New York City Marathon in 2018.

Jessica is a fifth-grade teacher in the Clarion-Limestone Area School District. Pat Craig is a history teacher at Redbank Valley High School.

“I met her at Clarion University and I proposed to her at Clarion University,” Craig said, smiling. “We’re very basketball-oriented. (The kids) don’t get it from me. They get it from mom yelling at them to do this and getting out and shooting in the driveway.”

Craig had never seriously considered coaching high school basketball until recently.

He worked well with Ferguson on his staff and his love for the game was rekindled.

He also saw an opportunity to coach his sons.

“It was one of those things where we worked so well last year together and coach Joe is helping this year,” Craig said. “He has a lot of grand-kiddos and coaching is time consuming. I have both feet in it with all of my kiddos coming through. I was hoping that a door would open. The experience has been a good one.”

Craig had dabbled in coaching shortly after he graduated from Clarion University as a junior high coach at C-L. But his coaching had been sporadic until recently.

He had many of his family members in the stands on Tuesday in his first visit to his alma mater as a head coach.

“My grandparents were here,” he said. “My grandpa (Eugene ‘Pud’ Craig), who really started basketball in our family years ago, was here and it was special for him to be here. My sister, Mackenzie, was here. It was pretty neat to have everyone here.”

As Mackenzie Craig said as she was leaving the gym, “We’re blue and gold now.”

Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.