Chris Croft returns for his third season on Coach Doc Sadler’s Nebraska staff as director of basketball operations in 2008-09.

Since joining the Husker staff in September 2006, Croft has been the primary day-to-day administrator within the basketball office, handling the budget, clinics, camps and daily office operations. He is heavily involved with team scheduling and the Huskers’ community involvement and Life Skills programs. Croft also helps coordinate the Huskers’ public speaking efforts, both for players and the coaching staff.

Another integral part of Croft’s position is handling team travel, including all postseason trips. Croft assisted Sadler and the Huskers to only the 12th 20-win season in program history and a berth in the 2008 postseason National Invitation Tournament (NIT). It was the second time in three years that Croft aided Sadler’s squad to the postseason.

Croft came to Nebraska from UTEP, where he served under Sadler as a program specialist. He oversaw several administrative areas for both the Miners and Huskers as the squads reached the National Invitation Tournament in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

An experienced coach and savvy basketball administrator, Croft also has an impressive basketball coaching background. During his career, Croft has previously held positions in the Big 12 and Pac-10 conferences and has been a head coach at the NAIA level.

Following eight years as a Division I assistant coach, Croft was named head coach at Martin Methodist (Tenn.) College at the age of 30. Croft’s first squad in 2003-04 won 22 games and grabbed the TranSouth Conference title – the first in school history – while also advancing to the NAIA national tournament. He was the first coach in league history to win a championship in his initial season as a head coach, and also the youngest coach in league history to win the championship. He led his team to 13 road wins to rank second nationally across all divisions of four-year colleges. Croft’s first team led the conference in scoring defense and he coached four all-conference players. During his tenure, seven players academic all-conference honors.

Croft broke into the coaching profession as an undergraduate student assistant at East Central (Miss.) CC in 1991-93. While at ECCC, he was part of a state championship team and the squad also made two regional tournament appearances. Croft then assisted M.K. Turk at Southern Mississippi as an undergraduate manager before being named an assistant coach at USM at age 22 in 1995.

Croft helped USM to two NIT appearances before moving to the Big 12 under Coach Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State before the 1996-97 season. In two seasons with the Cowboys, Croft helped OSU to a pair of postseason appearances, including reaching the second round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. He then moved on to Maryland Eastern Shore for one year in a recruiting capacity before spending four seasons (1999-2000 to 2002-2003) at Washington State. Croft was also the head coach for the Planet Basketball All-Star team that toured New Zealand in the summer of 2001.

Croft earned his bachelor’s degree in coaching and sports administration from Southern Miss in 1995 and received a master’s degree in human performance in 1996. Croft completed his dissertation for his doctoral degree in educational leadership and administration (Ed.D.) at UTEP in the spring of 2008. Croft is a native of Louisville, Miss., which is also the birthplace of three current SEC head coaches: LSU women's head coach Van Chancellor, Kentucky women's head coach Matthew Mitchell and Ole Miss men's head coach Andy Kennedy.