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
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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.
