Ted Crass enters his fourth season in this stint, and his eighth overall, as an assistant coach at ACU for the 2025-26 season. Crass returned to Abilene in the spring of 2022 after two successful years as a junior college head coach.
Crass worked as an assistant on the Wildcats' staff from 2016-2020 before taking over the program at Otero College (Kan.). During his two seasons, his teams posted a 39-12 overall record and back-to-back regular season Region IX South Champions.
In his first year at Otero College, the Rattlers finished the season with the most wins in the region (15-5) and were regular season conference co-champions (9-3). The team had 2 All-Conference players and 1 Academic All-American. Five different players from that team went on to 4-years schools on Full Scholarships.
In his second season at Otero, the Rattlers won an outright regular season Region IX Title, were ranked in the national top 25 polls and reached the Regional Championship game before being upset on a buzzer beater. That team had an honorable mention NJCAA All-American, two All-Conference players (Including former Wildcat player Hunter Jack Madden), and six players moved on to 4-year schools on full scholarship.
During his first stint at Abilene Christian, Crass helped lead the Wildcats to the 2019 NCAA Tournament, Southland Tournament Championship and the most wins in school history (27) in his third season as an assistant coach with the program.
Crass joined ACU in April 2016 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Since beginning at ACU, seven Wildcats have been awarded All-Southland Conference, including the 2018-19 male student-athlete of the year. During this span, six Wildcats earned their degrees and one finished with a Master's degree. During his first season the Wildcats won their first Division I true road game, had a Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, and their win percentage increased for the third-straight year.
In his second season, 2017-18, the Wildcats had their first winning season in the Division I Era (16-15). This mark earned a berth in the collegeinsider.com (CIT) Tournament, the program’s first national postseason tournament at the NCAA Division I level, and its first national tournament appearance of any kind since the reaching the 1998-99 NCAA Division II national tournament. Crass also oversaw team community service and academics. During the academic year the team posted a 3.0 cumulative GPA, the program’s highest cumulative mark since 2013-14.
Before arriving to Abilene, Crass spent eight seasons as a part of the Arkansas-Little Rock staff where he worked under former head coaches Steve Shields and Chris Beard. He was the Director of Player Development in 2015-16 under Beard, helping the Trojans finish 30-5, win the Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament championships and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament. During his time at UALR, 13 of 13 Seniors graduated and 7 players earned All-Sun Belt Conference awards.
Crass was an assistant coach for the Trojans during the 2014-15 season. He assisted with all aspects of the program, including recruiting, evaluating, scouting and budget preparation.
Crass spent the 2013-14 season as the program’s Director of Basketball Operations following five years as a player and student manager for the Trojans.
Crass first joined the Trojans’ basketball staff as a student manager prior to the start of the 2008-09 season, serving three-plus years in that role before joining the roster midseason in 2011-12. He suited up as a player for the first time at Middle Tennessee on Feb. 11, 2012, and saw the first game action of his career against Florida International just five days later. During the 2012-13 season Crass was the team captain and led the youngest team in NCAA Division I to a winning record.
A native of Little Rock, Crass graduated from Little Rock Central HS in 2008. He graduated from Arkansas-Little Rock in May 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications and later obtained a Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling from UALR.
