Chris Head has been hired as Crane’s basketball coach, CPS Sports Administration Director Calvin Davis said Thursday.
It is the latest twist in a strange last few days for the successful and controversial coach. On Friday, Head denied he had been hired as the Raby coach despite the school’s principal confirming it to the Tribune the day before. He was an assistant coach last year at Raby.
“Officially the principal informed me this morning that he has been hired,” Davis said.
Head replaces Tim Anderson, who left the West Side school over the summer to became an assistant coach at University of Texas-Pan American.
Head’s teams have been wildly successful and highly ranked. He won a state title with Westinghouse in 2002 and finished runnerup two years prior. At his last head coaching job in CPS, at Brooks from 2006 to 2010, he turned the program around.
But the success was accompanied by controversy. He was disciplined multiple times by CPS and the Illinois High School Association, including an 11-game suspension one season. During his sole season coaching Proviso West he was accused of hitting a player, a charge he was acquitted of by a jury in 2004.
Officials at Crane did not immediately return a request for comment. Head declined to comment.
