The Oklahoma Baptist men’s basketball program has named Christien Crynes assistant coach, head coach Jason Eaker announced.
Crynes comes to OBU after spending the last four years at Bendictine University in Mesa, Arizona. He was instrumental in back-to-back National Tournament appearances in the previous two seasons, including a first-round victory in 2020-21 and a California Pacific Conference title the same season. Additionally, he developed four All-Conference players and one All-American during his tenure with the Redhawks.
Prior to Benedictine-Mesa, Crynes was an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian University from 2016-2017. He helped produce two All-Conference players, focusing specifically on the forward and post positions.
Before joining OC, he coached for Below the Rim Club Basketball (BTR), where he developed 15U and 17U elite basketball programs that ranked No. 1 and 3 in Oklahoma, respectively.
Crynes graduated from Arizona State in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. While at ASU, he was an ASU Pat Tillman Leadership Through Action Scholar, which enabled him to establish an outreach program in Tulsa called Assault Athletics. The program prepared Native American and inner-city student-athletes for college through academic and professional development workshops, one-on-one mentoring, and basketball training. Thirty student-athletes received scholarship offers as a result of Assault Athletics.
After completing his bachelor’s, Crynes worked with Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State, to increase National Scholar, first-generation, and minority enrollment. He then left to work on his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma, from which he graduated in December 2015.
Crynes is a native of Jenks, Oklahoma, where he attended and graduated high school in 2008.
“We are excited to announce our latest addition to our coaching staff,” Eaker said. “One of the major reasons we’ve been so successful these last four years is because of our coaching and support staff. Coach Crynes fits the bill in everything we were looking for in this spot. Hard-working, high character, fantastic recruiter, and a strong desire to want to be at Oklahoma Baptist beyond the basketball program.”
https://obubison.com/news/2022/7/5/mens-basketball-crynes-added-to-mbb-staff.aspx
