Craig Doty, a three-time national champion head coach, three-time national coach of the year, husband, and father of five, is in his third season as the Ann and James Sears Bryant Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Houston Christian University. Doty is in his 15th season overall as a head college basketball coach.
Doty arrived in Houston to rebuild, rebrand, and reestablish the NCAA Division I Houston Christian men’s basketball program after achieving national-level success across the NJCAA, NAIA, and NCAA Division II levels as a head coach. Doty arrived at Houston Christian with a 259-126 record overall, including a 31-10 mark in postseason play, two NJCAA national titles, one NAIA national championship, and an NCAA Division II regional.
Year one of the Doty era at HCU was marked by substantial program growth in 2024-25. Picked to finish last (12th) in the Southland Conference preseason poll, the Huskies finished tied for seventh place. HCU doubled its win total from the previous season, improving from six wins to 12 wins and recording the most conference wins in eight years with nine Southland victories. Doty’s squad improved the program from an inherited 357 NET ranking to a season-high 252 NET ranking on January 31, 2025. Bryson Dawkins was named First Team All-Southland Conference, only the second player in HCU men’s basketball history to earn first-team honors.
The progress of year one at HCU continued in year two as the program again finished tied for seventh place in the Southland in 2025-26. Despite HCU being tabbed as the most difficult job to win at in the Southland Conference by Jeff Goodman, Doty and his staff continued to exceed expectations. The Huskies were one of only five Southland schools to earn back-to-back bids to the Southland Conference Tournament in 2025 and 2026. Sharp Gym was electric as HCU earned its highest home attendance in seven years. Additionally, Houston Christian achieved back-to-back winning seasons at home for the first time since 2015-17.
Off the court the Huskies have been just as impressive. Over the past two years Doty has helped raise and oversee over $300,000 in facility upgrades including a nutrition station, locker room enhancements, office and player’s lounge upgrades, new digital scorer’s tables, and a new video board in Sharp Gym. Additionally, the men’s basketball program led multiple community service efforts including a drive to help eradicate blood cancer, “High-Five Friday” which included reading and working with elementary school kids, and the “signing” and mentoring of a 10-year old after he received a double kidney transplant. In the classroom, HCU men’s basketball earned a 3.22 team GPA.
A family man, Doty and his wife, Alexys, reside in the greater Houston area raising their five children: Braylon, Amery, Sienna, Calvin and Christian. They attend Sugar Land Baptist Church and immerse themselves in the SLBC, HCU, and local communities.
Prior to his arrival in Houston, Doty spent six seasons as head men’s basketball coach at Emporia State University in Kansas. Known as a program-builder, Doty improved the Emporia State program from an inherited 9-19 record (4-15 MIAA) to a 23-9 record (15-7 MIAA) in 2022-23. In each of his final three seasons at ESU, Doty’s teams appeared in the NABC Division II national polls while being ranked in the top 25 for six weeks in 2022-23 and as high as #15 in 2023-24. Over his final three years at ESU, Doty’s team recorded a 62-30 record, averaging 20.7 wins per season while playing in the toughest conference in NCAA Division II.
In six seasons leading Emporia State, Doty coached 16 All-Conference selections and Emporia State’s first All-American since 2003, Tray Buchanan. Doty’s team broke the school-record for MIAA conference wins in a season with 15 in 2021-22 and then matched the mark again in 2022-23 while breaking ESU’s NCAA-era program record for wins in a season with 23. Sixteen of Doty’s ESU players inked pro contracts.
Off the floor, the Emporia State men’s basketball program was just as impressive. Doty’s Hornets won the Community Service National Championship in both 2022 and 2023, finishing first in the NCAA Division II Helper-Helper standings among nearly 300 member schools. Doty changed the academic profile of the program, moving the team GPA up an entire grade point average during his tenure. In the fall of 2023, the Hornets boasted the best men’s basketball academic semester since ESU began recording team GPAs with a 3.23 team GPA.
Prior to his arrival in Emporia, Doty led Graceland University to national prominence. In just two seasons at Graceland, Doty’s program had a 49-22 record and won the 2018 NAIA Division I National Championship in the school’s first trip to the national tournament. Along the way, Doty earned NAIA National Coach of the Year and the 2018 Don Meyer Award. Upon winning the 2018 national championship, Doty had led his teams to the National Championship game four out of the previous five seasons.
Doty began his head coaching career as the head men’s basketball coach at Rock Valley College. In his four years he built a national powerhouse. When Doty took over the program in 2012, Rock Valley was ranked last in the Region IV preseason poll. Over the next four years, Doty would lead the Golden Eagles to four consecutive national tournaments including three straight national title games. Rock Valley was crowned National Champions in 2014 and in 2016, the first and second national championships in the 50-year program history.
Doty compiled a 113-28 record (.801) at Rock Valley. Doty’s program shattered the school record for wins in 2013-14 posting a 30-5 record while re-breaking that record the next two seasons going 31-4 and 33-3, respectively. Doty led the Golden Eagles to the #1 ranking in the
country for the first time in program history on October 27th, 2014 and his program held on to the #1 ranking for the rest of Doty’s tenure at RVC which included 24 consecutive national polls over 729 consecutive days.
Prior to his head coaching, Doty served as an assistant at the University of Sioux Falls (SD), Riverland Community College (MN), and Central Wyoming College. Doty was a volunteer assistant for one season at his alma mater, Morningside University (IA), and served one season as a head high school coach at Akron-Westfield (IA).
Doty is a respected camp clinician and speaker having spoken at Nike, NABC, and state association clinics across the country over the past 15 years. He has presented alongside Bobby Knight, Geno Auriemma, Nate Oats, and Bob Huggins, among other legendary coaches. Championship Productions has published seven videos of Doty’s presentations with titles such as, “Building a Switching, No Middle, Man-to-Man Defense,” “7 Proven Ways to Guard a Ball-Screen,” and “Winning Championships through Offensive Concepts and Sets.”
Doty is a proud native of Alcester, South Dakota and a graduate of Alcester-Hudson High School. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in 2010 from Morningside University majoring in English with a Business Administration minor.
