Crockett Coach Earns Doctorate, Hopes To Inspire Students

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT — Chaston Pruitt has spent years pushing students and athletes to believe they can do more than they think they can.

Now, he has another lesson to share with them.

Pruitt, a coach and teacher at Crockett High School, recently earned his doctoral degree from Houston Christian University in executive educational leadership. He graduated Friday, May 9, after completing the degree while continuing to work full time, coach multiple sports and serve students in Crockett ISD.

For Pruitt, the accomplishment is not just a personal milestone. It is a message.

“Education has been the cornerstone of what I do and I emphasize that to my students,” Pruitt said. “Hopefully, I’m making a good example for them.”

Pruitt currently serves as head boys basketball coach, football coach and track coach at Crockett High School. He earned his undergraduate degree in 2011 and later received a master’s degree from Lamar University in 2021.

This year, he added “doctor” to his name.

That is no small thing for anyone. For a full-time coach and teacher, it means years of late nights, early mornings, deadlines, research and discipline, all while still showing up for students, athletes, practices, games, classrooms and community expectations.

Pruitt, 37, said the motivation to keep going came from more than one place.

“I came from humble beginnings,” he said. “I’m not downplaying the humble beginnings, but I didn’t want to go back to that situation that my mom worked hard for us to get out of.”

He also carried with him a memory from childhood that became a kind of fuel. Pruitt said a second-grade teacher once told him he was “dumb” and would not amount to anything.

That kind of comment can leave a mark on a child. In Pruitt’s case, it also helped create determination.

“I wanted to create a vendetta to try to say that I could do it, that I could be successful, no matter my disadvantage or disposition,” he said.

Then, after earning his doctorate, Pruitt did something few people probably get the chance to do.

He reached out to that teacher.

“I actually reached out to that teacher,” he said. “I said, ‘No hard feelings, but I graduated with my doctorate,’ and sent her a picture.”

There is a little humor in that moment, but there is also something deeply serious behind it. Pruitt’s story is about what can happen when a young person refuses to be defined by someone else’s expectation.

It is also the kind of story he hopes students can see and understand.

Pruitt knows many young people face obstacles that can feel bigger than they are. Some come from difficult backgrounds. Some are told they are not smart enough, strong enough or disciplined enough. Some simply have not yet seen a clear path forward.

He wants them to know a path exists.

The doctoral program taught him that reaching a major goal is not about doing everything at once. It is about staying committed long enough to keep moving, piece by piece.

“It taught me that it’s a marathon,” Pruitt said.

One of his professors gave him a lesson that stuck with him.

“How do you eat an elephant?” Pruitt said. “One piece at a time.”

That became a way for him to look at the doctoral journey. A degree that big can feel overwhelming if a person looks at the whole thing at once. There are classes, papers, research, deadlines and responsibilities stacked on top of everyday life.

But Pruitt learned to break the work down and keep going.

“You can’t complete that journey in one fell swoop,” he said. “You’ve got to continue to work and continue to work to be successful and get that education.”

That message fits naturally with what he does as a coach.

Athletes do not get stronger in one workout. Teams do not become disciplined in one practice. Students do not master difficult subjects in one day. Growth is built in repetition, effort and consistency.

Pruitt’s doctorate is another example of that same principle.

While sports are a major part of his life, Pruitt is clear that education is at the center of his work. He believes public schools still offer something valuable and necessary, especially through relationships between students, teachers and coaches.

“Education, as you know, is under attack, and they want to argue all the bad things about education,” Pruitt said. “But I will say that a wholesome education through public schools is the way to go.”

He said students benefit from the relationships they build at school, both with peers and with teachers who care about what they are teaching.

“You get those one-on-one relationships with your friends, and then you get those teachers that actually care about what they’re teaching you,” he said.

That is the kind of teacher Pruitt wants to be.

In the classroom, he wants students to leave with knowledge they can use in real life. He said students in his economics classes learn about taxes, something they will need to understand as adults. In government, he wants students to learn about constitutional amendments and civic responsibility so they can make informed decisions when they vote.

“In the fall, when we do economics, they’re going to learn how to do taxes,” Pruitt said. “That’s a real-life thing that you need to learn in order to be successful in life.”

He said the same is true for government.

“They’re going to learn the amendments,” he said. “So when they do vote, they can actually vote for the right candidate and the right premise, rather than just vote for them because it sounds good.”

For Pruitt, education is not abstract. It is practical. It is preparation. It is the difference between simply making it through school and understanding how the world works.

It is also a way to open doors.

That belief is one reason his own educational journey matters so much. A coach earning a doctorate is not something students see every day. Pruitt knows that.

“It’s rare when you see a coach that’s also a doctor,” he said. “That’s probably one of the rarest things that I’ve seen.”

He laughed about the idea, but he also understands the importance of visibility. When students see someone they know and respect achieve something difficult, the achievement can feel a little more possible for them too.

Pruitt’s work at Crockett High School already puts him in front of students in several different ways. As a coach, he sees athletes in moments of pressure, discipline, disappointment and growth. As a teacher, he sees students learning how to think, plan and prepare for life beyond graduation.

Now, with a doctorate in executive educational leadership, he is also looking toward the next part of his career.

Pruitt said he still loves coaching, but he can see a future in school administration.

“I’ve told people this is probably my two- to three-year warning about coaching,” he said.

His goals are specific. By the time he is 40, he wants to be serving as a principal or assistant principal. By 45, he hopes to be a superintendent.

“By the time I’m 40, I want to be a principal or assistant principal somewhere,” he said. “Hopefully in Crockett, but I want to be starting my administrative journey. And then, by the time I’m 45, I want to be a superintendent.”

Pruitt said the move into administration would allow him to expand the kind of impact he is already trying to have.

“If I can impact as many kids as I have in my short career, then I can impact more students and teachers on a more comprehensive level,” he said.

That is the heart of his long-term goal. He wants to keep serving students, but eventually from a broader leadership role.

For now, though, Pruitt still has practices, games and classrooms to lead.

He said Crockett football has reasons to be optimistic heading into the next season.

“Football-wise, I think we’re going to be great,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of young talent coming up from junior high, and then we’ve got a pretty strong senior class.”

He said the Bulldogs will need to lean on the offensive line, but he feels good about the direction of the program.

Basketball will bring a different challenge. Pruitt said the team is losing two major players and will need to retool.

“Basketball-wise, we’re losing two big stars, so we’re going to have to retool and rebuild all of that,” he said. “But we’ve done it before, and I believe we can do it again.”

He said he is interested to see how the younger players develop, especially in a tough district.

“We know we’ve got a tough district,” Pruitt said. “It’s going to be a tough go, either way it goes, but I am confident.”

Confidence is a recurring theme in Pruitt’s story, though not the kind that comes easily or without struggle.

His confidence was built through hard beginnings, through a mother’s work, through words that hurt, through years of school, through coaching, teaching, studying and finishing what he started.

It was built one piece at a time.

Now, as Dr. Chaston Pruitt, he has a new title, a new degree and a new chapter ahead. But the message he carries for Crockett students remains simple: the road may be long, but it can be traveled.

“You’ve got to continue to work,” Pruitt said.

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]