After a 28-year collegiate head coaching career, including 10 at the University of West Alabama, Rusty Cram has announced his retirement from coaching.
Cram will coach his final two games on the road at Valdosta State and West Florida this weekend.
“Jana, Ryan, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the administration, coaches, athletes, and supporters that we have had the honor and privilege to work with over the past 10 years,” Cram said. “We are so thankful for our time here in Livingston and all the friends we have made.”
Between UWA, Belhaven (Miss.), and Georgia Southern, Cram has tallied 374 career victories. Adding 230 wins at the high school level, he has 603 total going into the final weekend of the regular season.
“Rusty and his family have left an indelible mark on University of West Alabama athletics and the Livingston community,” UWA Director of Athletics Kent Partridge said. “The Cram’s love for both UWA and the community goes without saying. We wish Coach and his family nothing but the best as they move forward to the next stage of their lives.”
“We are exceedingly appreciative of the time and effort that Coach Cram has dedicated to our women’s basketball program and our student-athletes over the past 10 years,” said UWA President Ken Tucker. “In addition to his leadership of women’s basketball, Coach Cram has also invested in our campus community, along with his family, supporting so many different programs and activities at the University during his tenure. The Cram family is part of the UWA family, and we certainly wish them the best in this next chapter.”
Arriving in Livingston in 2014-15, Cram holds the UWA record for most Gulf South Conference wins in program history with 75. The 2018 and 2023 teams were both 10-win campaigns, tied for the fourth-most in history.
The longest-tenured head coach for UWA women’s basketball, his teams qualified for the GSC Championship five times, including a semifinal appearance in 2018.
He has coached nine selections to All-GSC accolades, including Tazsa Garrett-Hammett, who was the GSC Freshman of the Year in 2018 and a member of the GSC All-Decade Team.
Bria Dent, who was a four-time All-Conference selection for UWA, was named to the World Exposure Report All-America Team as an honorable mention.
Prior to his time at UWA, Cram coached two seasons at Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. His teams qualified for the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament in each season with the Blazers. He coached Ariel Wilson to back-to-back All-Conference and Third Team All-American honors with the NAIA.
Cram was a two-time Southern Conference coach of the year (1998, 2001) and guided Georgia Southern to two regular-season titles (1998, 2001), eight 15-win seasons and two 20-win seasons. He is the winningest women’s basketball coach in Georgia Southern history with 239.
Prior to his stint at Georgia Southern, Cram spent eight years as a high school coach in Alabama and Georgia.
He was the boys’ head coach at Evangel Christian Academy in Mobile, Alabama, the head boys’ and girls’ coach at Sam Crow Academy in Oak Grove, Louisiana, and the head girls’ coach at Cedar Creek High School in Ruston, Louisiana.
Cram led Evangel Christian to a state title in 1981 and the Cedar Creek girls to a state championship in 1983. From 1983-88, CCHS made four state playoff appearances. Cram led both the boys’ and girls’ teams to state Final Four berths at Sam Crow in 1982, and the girls’ team won the state crown in 1983.
Earning his Bachelor of Science Degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1985, Cram played two seasons of college basketball at Kilgore (Texas) Junior College.
A national search is currently underway for the next head women’s basketball coach at West Alabama.
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