 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Tom Craft" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Riverside City |
| Conference | National Southern |
| Record | 145–23 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | (1953-11-12)November 12, 1953 (age 71) Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1972–1973 | Monterey Peninsula |
| 1975–1976 | San Diego State |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1977–1982 | Palomar (QB/WR) |
| 1983–1993 | Palomar |
| 1994–1996 | San Diego State (OC/QB) |
| 1997–2001 | Palomar |
| 2002–2005 | San Diego State |
| 2007–2009 | Mt. San Antonio (assoc. HC/OC/QB) |
| 2010–2024 | Riverside City Tigers |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 19–29 (college) 261–79–1 (junior college) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 2 junior college (1991, 1993) 2CCCAA / 3C2A (2019, 2023) 5Mission Conference South Division (1989–1993) 4Mission Conference Central Division (1998–2001) 2Central East (2010–2011) 7National Central (2013–2017, 2021–2022) 4National Southern (2018–2019, 2023–2024) | |
Thomas Jay Craft (born November 12, 1953) is an Americanfootball coach and former quarterback, who served as the head coach of theRiverside City Tigers from August 2010 until his retirement in December 2024.[1][2][3] He playedcollege football atMonterey Peninsula andSan Diego State. He then served as the head football coachPalomar from 1983 to 1993 and at San Diego State from 2002 to 2005.
He served as the head football coach atRiverside City College inRiverside, California, a position that Craft served as from August 2010 until his retirement in December 2024.[1][2][3] Craft served as the head football coach atSan Diego State University from 2002 to 2005 and for two stints atPalomar College inSan Marcos, California, from 1983 to 1993 and 1997 to 2001. Craft has also been the associate head coach andoffensive coordinator atMount San Antonio College inWalnut, California.
Under his tenure, San Diego State developed a reputation of playing the tough teams well but lacked consistency and never had a winning season. In 2004, San Diego State lost to Michigan 24–21, and in 2005, where it pushed Ohio State at home, and lost 24–21 to TCU. San Diego State fired Craft at the end of the 2005 season.[4]
Craft is a graduate ofPacific Grove High School, inPacific Grove, California, and thereafter playedquarterback at San Diego State.
After serving as an assistant coach at Palomar from 1977 to 1982 and with the school openly questioning its commitment to football, he took over head coaching duties in 1983. After a pair of 4–6 seasons, the Comets' fortunes began to improve. By the time Craft left the San Marcos school for the Aztec coordinator's job, Palomar was coming off a three-year stretch of 31–2, had an offense ranked among the nation's top five for five consecutive years and was sporting two national championships. Craft compiled an overall record of 115–56 and three national junior college football championships at Palomar.
At Palomar, Craft taught and coached seven All-American quarterbacks, which include: Duffy Daughtery, Scott Barrick,Brett Salisbury, Andy Loveland,Tom Luginbill, Greg Cicero, and Andy Goodenough.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego State Aztecs(Mountain West Conference)(2002–2005) | |||||||||
| 2002 | San Diego State | 4–9 | 4–3 | 4th | |||||
| 2003 | San Diego State | 6–6 | 3–4 | 5th | |||||
| 2004 | San Diego State | 4–7 | 2–5 | 7th | |||||
| 2005 | San Diego State | 5–7 | 4–4 | 6th | |||||
| San Diego State: | 19–29 | 13–16 | |||||||
| Total: | 19–29 | ||||||||
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palomar Comets(Mission Conference)(1983–1993) | |||||||||
| 1983 | Palomar | 4–6 | 1–5 | 6th | |||||
| 1984 | Palomar | 4–6 | 2–6 | T–7th | |||||
| 1985 | Palomar | 6–4 | 4–4 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1986 | Palomar | 5–5 | 4–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1987 | Palomar | 4–4–1 | 3–5–1 | 6th | |||||
| 1988 | Palomar | 4–6 | 3–6 / 3–1 | 2nd(South) | |||||
| 1989 | Palomar | 7–4 | 6–3 | 1st(South) | W Hall of Fame Bowl | ||||
| 1990 | Palomar | 7–4 | 4–0 | 1st(South) | W Hall of Fame Bowl | ||||
| 1991 | Palomar | 10–1 | 8–0 | 1st(South) | W Merced Elks Bowl | ||||
| 1992 | Palomar | 10–1 | 8–1 / 3–0 | 1st(South) | W Orange Country Classic | ||||
| 1993 | Palomar | 11–0 | 9–0 / 3–0 | 1st(South) | W San Francisco Community College Bowl | ||||
| Palomar Comets(Mission Conference)(1997–2001) | |||||||||
| 1997 | Palomar | 6–5 | 5–5 / 3–3 | T–3rd(Central) | |||||
| 1998 | Palomar | 10–1 | 9–1 / 5–0 | 1st(Central) | W First Down Bowl | ||||
| 1999 | Palomar | 8–3 | 8–2 / 4–1 | T–1st(Central) | L Shrine Potato Bowl | ||||
| 2000 | Palomar | 7–4 | 7–3 / 4–1 | T–1st(Central) | L Southern California Bowl | ||||
| 2001 | Palomar | 10–2 | 7–1 / 5–0 | 1st(Central) | W Southern California Bowl,L CCCAA Championship | ||||
| Palomar: | 113–56–1 | 88–47–1 | |||||||
| Riverside City Tigers(Central East Conference)(2010–2011) | |||||||||
| 2010 | Riverside City | 10–1 | 5–0 | 1st | W Central Division Championship | ||||
| 2011 | Riverside City | 11–0 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
| Riverside City Tigers(National Central Conference / League)(2012–2017) | |||||||||
| 2012 | Riverside City | 9–2 | 5–1 | 2nd | W Golden State | ||||
| 2013 | Riverside City | 10–2 | 6–0 | 1st | L SCFA Championship | ||||
| 2014 | Riverside City | 10–2 | 6–0 | 1st | L SCFA Championship / CCCAA Semifinal | ||||
| 2015 | Riverside City | 8–3 | 5–1 | T–1st | L CCCAA Southern California Playoffs | ||||
| 2016 | Riverside City | 10–2 | 4–1 | T–1st | L SCFA Championship | ||||
| 2017 | Riverside City | 10–2 | 4–1 | T–1st | L SCFA Championship | ||||
| Riverside City Tigers(National Southern League)(2018–2021) | |||||||||
| 2018 | Riverside City | 10–2 | 5–0 | 1st | L CCCAA/SCFA Championship | ||||
| 2019 | Riverside City | 13–0 | 5–0 | 1st | W CCCAA Championship | ||||
| 2020–21 | No team—COVID-19 | ||||||||
| Riverside City Tigers(National Central League)(2021–2022) | |||||||||
| 2021 | Riverside City | 10–3 | 5–0 | 1st | L CCCAA Championship | ||||
| 2022 | Riverside City | 12–1 | 5–0 | 1st | L CCCAA Championship | ||||
| Riverside City Tigers(National Southern League)(2023–present) | |||||||||
| 2023 | Riverside City | 12–1 | 6–1 | 2nd | W 3C2A Championship | ||||
| 2024 | Riverside City | 10–2 | 7–0 | 1st | LSCFA Championship | ||||
| Riverside City: | 145–23 | 73–5 | |||||||
| Total: | 261–79–1 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||