After 34 years as a prep baseball head coach, –including the last 32 at Hickory — David Craft is closing in on 500 career wins. The Red Tornadoes were 11-11 this season, improving Craft’s record to 474-305 at his alma mater and 494-324 overall (other games as West Iredell head coach). His teams have averaged 11.5 wins per season over the last 10 years, putting him six away from No. 500./HICKORY HIGH PHOTO
Editor’s note: Stories and research by HobbsDailyReport.com is copyrighted. This information can’t be published by print media or used on radio broadcasts without crediting HobbsDailyReport.com. To request a waiver of the copyright, e-mail chobbs001@att.net.HobbsDailyReport.com.
HobbsDailyReport.com
TOP CAREER RECORDS THROUGH 2022 SEASON
Unofficial career win totals for head baseball coaches with at least 100 victories from those in the Catawba Valley 2A Athletic, Western Foothills 3A and Northwestern 3A-4A:
Head coach                                  Record               Years
David Craft, Hickory             494-324                   34
Pete Hardee, Alex Central      469-348                 na
Jeff Parham, S. Caldwell            445-113            21
Chris Matile, E. Lincoln             278-161            17
Channon Vogel, Foard                173-146                   17
Frank Porter, Bandys                  144-137           13
Notes: Craft (W. Iredell) and Hardee (Watauga) were head coaches at other schools… next closest to 100 wins: Jonathan Browning, Patton (88, 9 years), Corey Nunley, Newton-Conover (78, 18 years); Michael Windish, Watauga (62, 8 years)… The leaders by conference are: Porter, Bandys in Catawba Valley 2A Athletic, Craft, Hickory in Western Foothills 3A, and Hardee, Alexander Central in Northwestern 3A-4A… Hardee and Parham have combined 914 career wins… The top three in the Western Foothills 3A – Craft, Matile of East Lincoln and Vogel of Foard havc combine 945 career victories.
