From making assists playing basketball to becoming a graduate assistant in the athletics department at Suffolk University, Carolyn Crampton has a passion for sports. She currently holds a position as a manager within the Michael and Larry Smith Fitness Center, an assistant coach to the women’s basketball team and she is also a graduate student at Suffolk.
As a two-year graduate assistant, her main position at Suffolk, she is a student pursuing a Masters in administration of higher education and will be graduating in December.
Crampton will finish out this season with the Lady Rams. In furthering her career, she hopes to continue coaching after she receives her master’s and possibly become an athletic director.
“Head coaches usually have an assistant position to the athletic director, so I would like to start there and work my way up,” said Crampton in an interview with The Suffolk Journal on Feb. 6.
With experience under her belt in coaching and playing women’s basketball, Crampton is a resource full of wisdom for the athletes at Suffolk.
“This team is very different than the other teams I have worked with,” said Crampton. “I think the kids just have a different energy about the game and how they get up and down the floor so quickly and aren’t afraid of big moments.”
She went on to say that it is a great joy to be a part of Suffolk athletics and to help coach women’s basketball at the university.
“Carolyn has had an awesome impact on our team,” said sophomore forward Shannon Smith in an interview with The Journal on Monday. “She brings so much energy to our team, especially on the bench. She’s really become a good friend to all of us and always gives us helpful feedback to improve our basketball skills.”
Crampton has considered herself a “basketball junkie” ever since she was a young kid who grew up in Reading, Mass. and seemed to always be in a gym. She was captain of her basketball team at Vassar College in Arlington, N.Y., where she started 88 of her 99 game appearances. As captain, she led her team to the program’s first Liberty League Championship and National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament appearance. and was a full-time head coach there for two years after she graduated.
She played basketball year round during her high school career at Reading Memorial High School and then, in 2011, she received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in economics at Vassar.
“I was always interested in finding out why people did what they do and it helps in the psychology aspect of sports to do your best,” said Crampton, referring to her degree in psychology.
When she worked for an outside sales recruiting agency, Pro-Services Incorporated for nine months after she graduated, even though she has a minor in economics, Crampton realized that her quick wit in mathematics was not something she enjoyed pursuing. She realized this early on, so she coached high school women’s basketball at Reading Memorial part-time during Pro-Services.
“I’ve played basketball all my life. I’ve always loved it and wanted to coach to stay involved with it,” said Crampton in an interview with The Journal last Monday.
Since her brothers loved basketball, it’s clear that she was made for the sport. According to Crampton, her father is also a basketball fan and helped coach her brothers teams at Reading Memorial.
Her reason for attending Suffolk and becoming involved in the athletics department was simple– she wanted to be closer to home.
“She has been a great addition to our coaching staff,” said junior guard Alexandra Nagri in an interview with The Journal on Monday. “She brings experience, enthusiasm and knowledge of the sport to practices.”
