WVU Tech Athletics

Joseph W. Craffey was born in Charleston, West Virginia to the late Joseph E. and Ann Craffey. Joe grew up in the small town of Boomer, West Virginia, not far from the Tech’s previous location in Montgomery. He has one sibling, Erin, who is also a Tech graduate. He graduated from Valley High School in 1991 and was an All-State athlete in football and baseball.
 
Craffey began his collegiate career at Tech in the fall of 1991 and played baseball at Tech from 1992-1996. He started all four years at Tech and helped the 1993 team reach the WVIAC playoffs. In 1996, Craffey won the WVIAC Hitting Crown, having the highest batting average in the WVIAC with an average of.444. Joe finished 11th in the nation in batting average in NCAA Division II that year. He was an All- WVIAC Honorable Mention performer as a junior. As a senior, he was on the First Team All-WVIAC and First Team All-East Region. He completed his college playing days at Tech with a career batting average of .364. He graduated from Tech in 1996 with an A.S. degree in Printing Technology and a B.S. degree in Health Services Administration.
 
After college, Craffey began his coaching career at Montgomery Middle School, coaching track and football. In 1999, he began coaching football and baseball at Valley High School and became the Head Baseball Coach in 2001. His teams at Valley amassed a record of 254-176-1 from 2001-2014. His teams won six Sectional Championships, 3 Regional Championships and 3 trips to the West Virginia State Baseball Tournament in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He was named Coalfield Conference Coach of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He coached eleven First Team All-State athletes at Valley and coached the 2009 West Virginia North-South Baseball Game with fellow Tech grad and teammate Steve Price.
 
Craffey enjoyed serving his community as a volunteer fireman with the Boomer Volunteer Fire Department from 1991 to 2015, a department his grandfather helped establish with other community members in the early 1950s.
 
Craffey is currently a special education teacher, athletic director and assistant football coach at George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia. He resides there with his wife of eighteen years, Christy, and his two beautiful children, Drew and Jaicee.