Multi-Sport Windham High School Coach To Receive Prestigious Gold Key

WINDHAM, CT — For more than two decades, Brian Crudden was seemingly never at home during the fall and winter months. From late August through late February, he would arrive at his teaching job at Windham High School around 7 a.m., then find himself immersed in coaching football and wrestling, often not completing his day until late in the evening. He even had a brief stint coaching track and field.

But what a coaching career it was. From 1985 through 2015, Crudden was head coach of the Whippets’ football program, qualifying for the state playoffs on five different occasions. At the time, just four teams in each division advanced to postseason play.

In 1992, Windham was ranked second in Class MM with an 8-1 regular season record. They advanced to the title contest, but were upended by undefeated Newtown. Fourteen years later, the Whippets were undefeated in the regular season at 10-0, but fell to Hillhouse in the Class M championship game.

As successful as Crudden’s football career was, his 22-year tenure on the wrestling mat yielded even greater results. The former state champion grappler at Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, R.I. guided his squads to seven state titles and a New England crown.

After taking over the Windham wrestling program in 1977, Crudden’s teams captured Class L championships in 1983, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994, and the Class M title in 1985. He reached the pinnacle of his career in 1992, when his team won the New England High School Wrestling Championship. The Whippets also had six state runner-up finishes. Twelve matmen brought home 16 State Open championships, and five won New England titles.

Crudden earned 543 career coaching victories, including 365 in wrestling. The Columbia resident was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1997, the Connecticut chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014.

He is one of the few persons to earn Connecticut High School Coaches Association coach of the year honors in two different sports: wrestling in 1993, and football in 2011.

A testament to his legacy is the fact that five of his former Windham grapplers became successful high school head coaches: Pat Risley (Windham), Ernie Goodwin (Glastonbury), Bobby Crespo (New London), Kirk Jenkins (Windham Tech) and Mike Spudic (Fairfax, Virginia). Numerous other former Whippets worked as assistant coaches; his son Bran was a standout wrestler at Windham and later competed at Brown University; and his grandson, Kryan McKinney-Crudden, played football at Dartmouth College.

For his accomplishments, Crudden is one of five individuals who will receive the prestigious Gold Key Award from the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance (CSMA). Other Gold Key honorees for 2024 are former Daniel Hand High School and Yale University football coach Larry Ciotti, retired Pomperaug High School field hockey coach Linda Dirga, award-winning sportscaster George Grande and Wesleyan University women’s basketball coach Kate Mullen.

The 82nd annual Gold Key Dinner is slated for Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville. Tickets are $75, and may be reserved via Venmo, @Tim-Jensen-67, or by sending a check to CSMA, P.O. Box 3234, Enfield, CT 06083.

Proceeds from the event support the Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship, a $3,000 annual award named in memory of the noted high school sports editor of the Hartford Courant and past CSMA president, who passed away in 2003 at age 49.

More information may be obtained from CSMA president Tim Jensen at 860-394-5091 or tim.jensen@patch.com.