Ex-Weber State hoops coach charged in 'baseball bat' assault


4 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Former Weber State University basketball head coach Joe Cravens is facing assault charges in Salt Lake County stemming from an alleged incident involving a baseball bat.

Cravens, 60, of South Ogden, was charged in 3rd District Court with a single count of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, for allegedly hitting a man in the shin with a baseball bat on Jan. 13. According to charges filed March 18, Cravens was meeting a man named Matthew Morgan at the Black Bear Diner, 1966 E. 9400 South, Sandy, to talk about a car accident.

The accident took place in December and involved Cravens' daughter, the charges state.

Morgan reported that Cravens demanded that he apologize for a voicemail he left and that when Morgan refused, Cravens "hit him in the left shin with a wooden baseball bat."

The bat left a "large red mark" that was visible to police, according to the charges. After the charges were filed, a $5,000 warrant was issued for Cravens' arrest.

Cravens, now the girls' basketball coach at St. Joseph High School in Ogden, made an initial appearance in court on March 21 and the warrant was recalled. He was to report to jail to be booked and released.

A status hearing has been set for April 15.

Cravens was the head men's basketball coach at WSU from 1999 to 2006, compiling a 116-88 record during that time. In 2003, Cravens was named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.

Before his time at Weber, he was at the University of Idaho, where he went 42-41 between 1993 and 1996. He was an assistant coach at the University of Utah under Rick Majerus, even taking the head coaching reins after Majerus underwent surgery.

In 2009, Cravens became the girls' basketball coach at Saint Joseph High School and lead the team to back-to-back 1A championships in 2012 and 2013. The team fell to Bryce Valley in the semifinals of the state tournament this year.

Photos

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Weber State WildcatsSportsUtah
Emiley Morgan

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast