Coach Barbara Crousen
Head Men’s and Women’s Track Coach
Associate Athletic Director Senior Women’s Administrator
Education: Bachelor of Science for Sul Ross University
M.Ed. from Sam Houston University
Year at McMurry: 9

Barbara Crousen can be considered more of a life coach than a track coach. Though it is obvious she is quite skilled and passionate about teaching her students to win track meets, she finds even more enjoyment helping them gain the skills they need to win in life.

Coach Crousen joined the McMurry staff nine years ago. She feels like McMurry is a special place to be as a coach, as well as a student. “We have an informal atmosphere where people find that they can be themselves,” said Coach Crousen. “I feel comfortable asking questions when I don’t know the answer and folks at McMurry will assist you when you need help.” She feels that at McMurry, students and professors form a unique comradery, and that McMurry’s wide range of extra curricular activities enhance student’s social and spiritual development.

Coach Crousen feels that it’s very important to live a life of giving. “Maybe that’s what is so unique about McMurry University—we are actually givers, not takers,” she said. This philosophy is one she hopes to teach her students. “I hope they learn there were people who make things happen for them and that someday they will be in a position to make thing happen for someone, too,” she said. She wants her students to learn to make the right choices and wants them to achieve success within themselves. “We weren’t all born a winner or a loser, but we were born to be a chooser.”

When asked what she finds most rewarding about coaching, Coach Crousen said just about everything. Instilling a work ethic in students, helping them develop good work habits, being a part of the excitement when a team wins a conference championship—but what she finds the most rewarding is guiding students in their spiritual life.

Coach Crousen was visited by one of her students a few years after the student had graduated. The student expressed to her coach how appreciative she was, but not for what she learned on the field. She thanked Coach Crousen for bringing Christ into her life through Fellowship of Christian Athletes and helping her to develop her life the way that is fitting for God. “That, my friend, was the most rewarding thing that I ever experienced in coaching.”

Her philosophy of giving back extends into her personal life as well. She has a 93 year-old mother that she talks to everyday and sees as much as she can. “She gave me my foundation, and I want to give back to her as much as I possibly can,” she said. She is also a member of Aldersgate Methodist Church, a grandmother, a lifetime member of the Texas Girls Coaches Association, a member of the USA Track and Cross Country Coaches Association, and a frequent lecturer at track clinics across the nation.