Thad McCracken enters his fifth season at the helm of the men's golf program after serving as both the men's and women's head coach from 2005-08.  His wife, Jennifer, served as his assistant coach until taking over the women's program in 2008. 

Thad was hired by Hendrix in 2005 and made an immediate impact upon his arrival as the men's team featured just two golfers and the women had none in 2004.  He revamped the golf programs and has since grown the roster sizes to as high as 10 on the men's side and nine on the women's.  His first recruiting class included standout golfer Dylan Sherwood ('09) who was the Top Freshman Finisher at the 2006 SCAC Championships.  Sherwood would go on to win the 2008 University of Dallas Invitational and was runner-up of the same invitational his senior year.  In 2008-09 Thad's team had its best showing in the SCAC Championships since 2004 and helped boost Hendrix Athletics to its best-ever SCAC President's Cup Finish.

Thad was a top golfer for his Bedford North Lawrence High School (Bedford, Ind.) team and was a one-year letterman at Hanover College (Hanover, Ind.).

Thad was also a standout basketball player at both the high school and collegiate level.  He was also hired as the men's assistant basketball coach in 2005 and helped transform a 5-19 overall and 1-13 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) men's team in 2004-05, into a conference contender at 17-10 overall and 9-6 in the SCAC (2nd in SCAC West) in 2008-09. 

Thad's first coaching job was at Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky./NCAA D-III) as an assistant basketball coach, where he helped lead the Pioneers to a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championship in 2004-05.  While he was coaching at Transylvania, Thad earned his master's degree in sports administration from Eastern Kentucky University.

A 2004 graduate of Hanover College, Thad earned his bachelor's degree in business administration.  He won four HCAC Championships and made two NCAA D-III National Tournament Appearances during his basketball career at Hanover.  Thad was honored as a NCAA D-III All-American and HCAC Player-of-the-Year his senior season and HCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player his junior year.  Thad currently holds the record for most 3-pointers in a season (76/2003-04) and is tied for most career 3-pointers (216/2001-04) in Hanover’s rich program history.

The McCrackens reside in Conway, Ark. and are expecting the arrival of their first child, Kaden, in December.