Payton Croft was introduced as the 16th head coach of the Mayfield boys’ basketball program Friday. Croft met with school officials, media members, and his new team after the announcement at the school.
Croft informed his former team at Trigg County of his decision to leave Thursday. He was 85-80 in six seasons as head coach, which included three straight district titles in his first three seasons.
While at Trigg County, Croft was often frustrated that the school was too large to play in the All-A Classic by just a handful of students. In 2019-20, Trigg County is the first team out of the event due to enrollment.
At Mayfield, Croft takes over a program deep in tradition but slim in returning experience. The Cardinals were 25-8 and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first since 1992. Afterwards, Chris Guhy stepped down after 31 years as coach, 17 of those as head coach of the Cardinals.
Croft is just the third coach in the last 30 years at Mayfield, which has had double-digit wins 19 of the last 20 seasons. They have also won eight All-A Classic First Region titles, including the last three.
Nine seniors were on Mayfield’s roster in 2018-19, including their leading scorers so Croft has an instant rebuild job. He also gets an instant cross-city rival in Graves County. However, the Third District is a three-team district along with Ballard Memorial that makes advancing to the region tournament easier.
At Trigg County, Croft was joined on the bench by his father and long-time coach Jimmy Croft. His assistants at Trigg this past season were Matt McMain, who is also the head track and field coach, and former Marshall County standout Jimmie Holder. It’s not immediately known if they will follow Croft to Mayfield or express an interest in the newly vacated Trigg County job.