Crudden, Bowen honored at Gold Key banquet

Brian Crudden, left, and Rich Bowen were honored at the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance’s Gold Key dinner on Sunday in Southington. Crudden received a Gold Key while Bowen was named coach of the year.

It’s been more than a quarter century since Brian Crudden was coaching wrestling at Windham High. When he stepped away from the sport at the conclusion of the 1998 season, Windham was one of the dominant wrestling programs in the state.

Under his leadership, the Windham won 10 Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) East Division titles, including seven in a row from 1987-93. His Whippets won seven state championships (five in Class L and two in Class M) between 1993 and 1994. Windham was the second Connecticut team to win a New England championship in 1992 and finished second in New England in 1993.

Crudden, who coached track and field and football at Windham, stayed with football through 2015. In 30 seasons, he won 172 games with the Whippets, who earned five CIAC playoff bids and played in two state championship games in 1992 and 2006.

Crudden’s coaching excellence earned him a Gold Key award on Sunday from the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance. He is the fourth wrestling coach to be honored with a Gold Key.

Do you consider yourself a football or a wrestling coach?

“I was both,” said Crudden, 71. “I enjoyed both. As far as high school athletes go, they’re the most combative sports – not in a vicious way. My best football players were wrestlers. My best wrestlers were football players. There was a lot of crossover between the two (sports).”

Former Daniel Hand and Yale University football coach Larry Ciotti, retired Pomperaug High field hockey coach Linda Dirga, award-winning sportscaster George Grande and Wesleyan University women’s basketball coach Kate Mullen, who grew up in Enfield, also received Gold Keys at the 82nd annual event that was first held in 1940.

Killingly High coach Rich Bowen was also honored. He was selected by the CSMA as their state coach of the year (male). Bowen is the fifth wrestling coach to be named state coach of the year and the first since Danbury’s Ricky Shook was honored in 2008.

From left, Gold Key recipients George Grande. Larry Ciotti, Linda Dirga, Brian Crudden and Kate Mullen chat before the start of Sunday’s Gold Key banquet in Southington.

Crudden coached multiple sports at Windham including track and field and freshman basketball. He made his mark in wrestling and football.

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.

“We were going to work really hard and dare to be great,” he said. “We’ll going to show the highest level of technique that could inform ourselves with.”

Crudden would smile when fog would develop in the old wrestling room at Windham.

“It was a sink tank, a padded cell. There were no windows or anything. We had a front door and a back door and it wasn’t that big of a room. We worked so hard that we would fog up the wrestling room,” he said.

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) Hall of Fame in 2014.

“Sportswriters have been very good to me. I have been so fortunate,” Crudden said, reflecting on the work and friendships made through the years with Chuck Banning, Vicki Fulkerson and Ned Griffith of The Day of New London and Mike Sypher of The Chronicle of Willimantic.

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.

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).