Killingly head coach Rich Bowen, left, and former Windham High coach Brian Crudden will be honored at the upcoming Gold Key banquet in October.
Wrestling for Bishop Hendricken in high school, Brian Crudden won two Rhode Island state championships in wrestling and a New England championship. But when he went to college at Springfield College, Crudden focused on football.
After graduation, Crudden came to Windham High where he had a storied career as a wrestling, football and track and field coach with the Whippets.
Crudden will become the fourth wrestling coach to be honored with the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance’s Gold Key on Sunday, Oct. 20, at the AquaTurf Restaurant in Southington beginning at 2 p.m.
He will be part of a class of five that be honored at the 82nd annual event that was first held in 1940.
Former Daniel Hand and Yale University football coach Larry Ciotti, retired Pomperaug High School field hockey coach Linda Dirga, award-winning sportscaster George Grande and Wesleyan University women’s basketball coach Kate Mullen, who grew up in Enfield, will be recognized.
Killingly High coach Rich Bowen will also be honored at the event. He was selected by the CSMA as their state coach of the year (male). Bowen will be the fifth wrestling coach to be named state coach of the year and the first since Danbury’s Ricky Shook was honored in 2008.
Tickets are $75 and available from CSMA president Tim Jensen of Patch Media Corp. at 860-394-5091 or [email protected].
Crudden coached multiple sports at Windham including track and field and freshman basketball. He made his mark in wrestling and football.
On the mat, his Whippet teams won 10 Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) East Division titles, including seven in a row from 1987-93. Windham won seven state championships (five in Class L and two in Class M) between 1983 and 1994. The Whippets were the second Connecticut team to win a New England championship in 1992 and finished second in New England in 1993.
Twelve Windham wrestlers brought home 16 State Open championships and five won New England titles. Brian coached 21 seasons for the Whippets finishing with a record of 365-119-6 when he stepped away following the 1998 season.
Crudden filled his Windham wrestling schedule with challenging matches. Due to preparation and coaching, the Whippets were extremely fit, technically sound and prepared to survive the relentless post-season tournament grind.
Crudden was inducted into first class of Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003. He is also in the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame (1997) and the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) in 2014.
Previous wrestling coaches to win the Gold Key include Danbury’s Ricky Shook (2021) and two West Hartford coaches – Hall’s Frank Robinson (2001) and Conard’s Bob McKee (2004). Robinson and McKee also had careers coaching football at their respective schools.
Crudden coached the Windham High football team for 30 years from 1985 through 2015, winning 172 games. His football teams earned CIAC playoff bids five times and twice played in the state championship games in 1992 and 2006. He was the CHSCA football coach of the year in 2010.
Bowen, who started coaching at Killingly in 1985-86, and his wrestling squad had an outstanding season in 2023-24. He became the first coach in state history to earn his 700th dual meet victory during the season.
Killingly went 30-0 and won a state-leading eight tournaments this season, including their second straight Class S championship with a comfortable 212-158.5 win over conference rival Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech. Killingly also won the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship for the 11th time with a 25 ½ point win over NFA
By running the table, Killingly extended their school-record winning streak to 60 dual meets, the fifth longest streak in state history, according to the state wrestling record book.
At the Class S championship meet, Killingly had five wrestlers in the finals and four won state titles. Eight finished in the top six of their weight classes to advance to the State Open.
“I wasn’t sure going into the year. We had to replace kids like (New England champions) Jack Richardson and Kaden Ware and you don’t know if you can do that but these guys really did a good job and stepped up,” Bowen told the Norwich Bulletin’s James Zanor. “It was different guys in different weight classes.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Bowen told Zanor. “When somebody gets knocked down there is another guy who picks it up and wins a match and gets us back on track. It’s been like that all year. I’ll remember this team. Just amazing. When I really sit down after it’s said and done I’m going to say, ‘Wow … that was something special.’”
Previous wrestling coaches honored as the state coach of the year by the CSMA, once known as the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance, included Shook (2008), Berlin’s Jim Day (2000), NFA’s Carl Snitkin (1999) and Ledyard’s Rod Leyland (1978).
