Ever since he was a kid, Anthony Crespino has lived and breathed Pittsburg State University Athletics. Now, he’s stepping into the position as Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“It’s absolutely a full circle moment,” says Crepsino.
He has many goals as he moves forward in this position. The most important is finding even more ways to combine the community and athletic department.
One community event that Crespino is excited about is Paint the Town Red, which he hopes to integrate even more with the athletics department.
“I just think that’s such a cool thing,” says Crespino, “We need to be a part of that, and we want to be a part of that. Even more so than we have in the past.”
Crespino grew up in Girard, Kansas. His family has an extensive sports legacy in Southwest Kansas. His Father, Craig, was the head football coach of Girard High School for several years.
His uncle, Coach Dennis Craig, led the PSU football team from 1985 to 1989. His grandfather, Frank Crespino, who was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, was a Pitt State football player and coached the team for a year.
Crespino’s father passed away in 2006, just before he started at PSU. Up until his father’s passing, most of his life revolved around sports - but he decided to take a step back.
“I got away from sports for a little bit,” says Crespino. “Just because there was a little pain from being around that for so long and him being gone.”
Crespino attended three different schools during his collegiate years, still undecided about his career path.
But in 2010, he made his way back to PSU. With the encouragement of his uncle, he quickly realized that sports were something that he needed to be involved in.
“Some people come here, and they know exactly what they want to do, and they do that and have great success.” said Crespino “Some people come here and try to figure it out, and that’s why I owe so much to this place because it’s given me everything I have.”
In 2011, he was hired by Tim Beck, who led the Pitt State football team from 2010 to 2019, and worked with the football team the year they won the national championship.
In addition to working at PSU, Crespino has a long history of working in other notable athletic roles at universities such as Penn State, Texas Christian University, and Northwestern State University.
When asked if working at those universities influenced his choice to come back to Pitt, he says that one aspect of his decision to come back was how much he was able to do.
“The great thing about this place, even as a student, you get to be involved with so much. We’re a small staff. We don’t have the staff that division one staff have,” added Crespino.
He decided to return to Pittsburg after coaching in various universities.
“Community is so important to me,” says Crespino. “I want to be able to build on the foundation of us as a department, and our athletic programs being more involved with the community.”
While Crespino enjoyed his time in division one football. In 2023, Crespino and his wife Joanna welcomed a daughter. The birth of his daughter led him to return to Pittsburg.
“For the first time in my life,” says Crespino. “I was kind of like, I wanted to be present at my daughter’s things, and if I keep going down this road with college football, I’m going to miss a lot of moments.”
Crespino says that the pride and connection to the athletic department and the university are unlike any place he’s worked before.
“There’s so many cars that have Pitt State license plates,” Crespino says. “There’s so many houses that have concrete gorillas. Of all the places I’ve worked, they don’t have that anywhere else.”
The values of family and community will carry him into his new role as the athletic director.
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