In a press release on March 15 by Emporia State Athletic Media Relations, six-year head coach of the men’s basketball team, Craig Doty, will not be returning for the 2024-25 season. 

Doty will now serve as head coach for Houston Christian University, a Division 1 school out of the Southland Conference. Houston Christian wrapped up the 2023-24 season with a final overall record of 6-23 and a 4-14 in conference play. 

During Doty’s time at Emporia State, he led the Hornets to an overall record of 97-76, an overall conference record of 65-61 and a NCAA Tournament second round run during the 2022-23 season where the Hornets finished the season 23-9 overall. 

During Doty’s first year at Emporia, he led the team to a 14-16 record during the 2018-19 season. He then went on to go 10-18 for the 2019-20 season and ended with a notable 20-9 record during the 2021-22 season, going 15-5 in MIAA play. 

During a press release, Vice President and Director of Athletics David Spafford expressed excitement for Doty.

 “While we will all miss Coach and his family in our program, university and community, we are excited to watch him live out his dream of coaching in Division I and achieving great things,” he said. 

“I want to express my gratitude to the many incredible people at Emporia State for your support and love during our six year ESU tenure,” Doty went on to say in the release. 

Starting immediately, a national search will be conducted for a new head coach at ESU for the 2024-25 season.

Along with Craig Doty’s departure from Emporia State, Assistant Head Coach of ESU mens basketball, Evan Lavery, took to X social media platform that he will be tagging along with Doty at HCU, and parting ways with ESU. 

Lavery coached for a total of six years for the Hornets, with the recent three years acting as Assistant Head Coach. Just before the 2020-21 season, Lavery was named “50 Most Impactful Assistant Coaches in NCAA Division II” by Silver Waves Media. 

After the news about Craigs departure from ESU, Coach Doty attended an introductory press conference on March 18 at HCU campus. 

HCU Director of Athletics, Steve Moniaci started the conference commending Doty on his excellence in building athletes, “His student athletes have done very well in the classroom, they’ve done very well in the community, and for us he is a great fit for our campus”