It didn’t take Rodney Crawford long to get to work as the new coach at Mountain State Academy.

Before his engine had time to cool after arriving in Beckley, he had already talked to the team’s star, who was rumored to be leaving the program.

“I talked to Noah (Cottrill) this morning,” Crawford said of the rising senior, one of the nation’s top players. “He said he was excited about next year. And he’s real excited about coming back and getting started. Yes, he told me he was staying.”

Crawford, 30, is a native of Cincinnati and played for WVU coach Bob Huggins when Huggins was coaching the Bearcats.

In fact, it was Huggins who told Crawford about the job, after his former school, Harmony Prep, shut down.

“I got a call from coach Huggins and he told me about the job and that it was something I should look into,” Crawford said. “I said, ‘Coach, I don’t know if I can do that. I’ve still got a mortgage (in Cincinnati).’ He told me to just check it out.

“When I did, it was exactly what I was looking for. Everything about this job is a perfect fit.”

Not surprisingly, Crawford’s style will look a lot like a Huggins-run program. He patterned a lot of his principles off those of his former coach.

“My whole defensive concept is coach Huggins,” said Crawford, a walk-on at Cincinnati who eventually earned a scholarship. “We’re going to play hard-nosed, man-to-man defense and we’re going to pressure you. I’m a firm believer in adapting to the personnel you have. On offense we’ll ultimately run typical motion offense and we’ll get up and down with it when we can.”

Crawford was 80-8 with Harmony Prep, a school that had post-graduate players. That won’t be the case at MSA, obviously.

MSA is happy to have Crawford, who will also serve as MSA’s director of student operations, in the fold.

“He’s going to be great for the school and obviously great for the community,” Dr. Jill Hopkins said. “He comes to us with a lot of experience in private education. He knows what is required.

“Todd Cornett, our athletic director, did a great job interviewing the candidates and he was a finalist. I think he made a quick impression. He is a very personable individual.”

That style will come across on the bench as well.

“I believe the time to do the whooping and hollering is in practice,” Crawford said. “Still, there are times when you have to motivate and give your team a spark. But most of the time when I want to make that kind of point, it’s going to be behind closed doors.”

Crawford said his main goal is to get his players ready for the next level, both mentally and physically.

“Without a doubt, I want to make sure our players have the ability to take (basketball) as far as they can,” he said. “But I want them to be ready for what is ahead, too.”

Crawford and his wife Tracy have two children, Jocelyn (10) and Jordyn (7).

He said they plan to make a home in Beckley at some point.

“But everything happened so fast with this opportunity, we haven’t really had time to sit down and figure out what we are going to do just yet,” Crawford said.

Right now, he is just happy to be in the MSA fold.

“My dream was always to be a coach and this is like a dream job,” he said. “I thought about coaching in college, but it’s a fickle business.”

Crawford will hit the road Friday to begin recruiting for the upcoming season.

“I’ve done a little bit of research on what we have coming back and I obviously know quite a bit about Noah,” Crawford said. “From what I heard, we have some nice kids coming back. I can’t wait to get started.”

— E-mail: demorrison@register-herald.com