Wylie High School Educator, Coach Still Going Strong After 50 Years in Public Schools

When the school year ends, Wylie High School teacher and coach Mike Crutcher will have celebrated an impressive milestone – 50 years in public education. Despite reaching this remarkable achievement, Crutcher shows no signs of slowing down and intends to keep teaching and coaching for many more years to come.

Those closest to Crutcher reminisce about his career and his profound impact on them. Meanwhile, Crutcher himself shares his experiences from over the years.

Educational Career and Family

A graduate of Texas Tech University, Crutcher’s story begins in Lubbock, Texas. His influence extends from West Texas to North Texas, leaving a lasting legacy across the state. He is loyal to his school districts; in his 50 years in education, only three school districts have the distinct pleasure of claiming him as one of theirs.

Affectionately known as Coach, even to his grandchildren, Crutcher spent nearly 30 years teaching at Monterey and Estacado high schools in Lubbock ISD.

Crutcher and his family then moved to the Metroplex in 2001, thanks to Bill Patterson, a Monterey graduate and former student-athlete of his. Patterson was the head football coach at Naaman Forest High School in Garland ISD and helped Crutcher’s family members land jobs in the district. He insisted Crutcher and his wife come too, so they did. Crutcher spent 13 years coaching and teaching at Naaman Forest. 

In 2014, Crutcher joined Wylie ISD, where he has remained for the past decade. Crutcher initially served at Wylie East High School, coaching football and track and teaching social studies. For the past four years, he has been at Wylie High School, teaching world history, instructing Partners PE and coaching varsity football. 

“I wouldn’t have left Naaman Forest if it weren’t for Cooper Andrews, who wanted me to come to East and coach him,” Crutcher said.

Cooper, WEHS Class of 2018, is the oldest of four grandchildren. Seeing Crutcher in action as a coach at Naaman Forest made Cooper want his grandfather to move over to his school to be his coach.

“I grew up going to the summer workouts at Naaman Forest,” Cooper said. “I already knew how much he loved his family, but it was during those hot summer days that I got to see how much he loved his team.”

Cooper said that his grandfather was the reason he wanted to play football. 

“He may be known for the fiery way he gets his linemen going between drives, but each and every one of them would do anything for him,” Cooper said. “He is a passionate motivator and leader.”

Cooper recalled his experience under Crutcher’s coaching, emphasizing he never received preferential treatment simply because he was his grandson. Instead, Crutcher treated him like any other athlete on the team. 

“He didn't take it easy on me,” Cooper said. “I still have vivid memories of him getting fired up because I pulled into one of his linemen and messed up the play.”

He said that Crutcher’s tough coaching style contributed to his personal growth, instilling a strong work ethic and shaping his perspective on leadership. 

“Coach always had my back, and I wanted nothing more than to make him proud,” Cooper said. “He is an incredible leader and inspires success in his athletes both on and off the field. He is one of the men I look up to most in my life. I am beyond blessed to have him as both my grandfather and my coach.”

The Wylie ISD lineage runs deep within this family. Nearly every member of Crutcher’s immediate family either works in Wylie ISD or attended school in the district. 

Crutcher has two daughters, Amy Andrews, Wylie ISD District Counseling/Wylie Way Coordinator, and Micah Pohlmeier, Wylie ISD Recruitment Coordinator. 

His four grandchildren are all Wylie East Raiders. Cooper Andrews, Campbell Andrews, and Carter Pohlmeier graduated from WEHS. His youngest grandchild, Cannon Pohlmeier, will graduate from East this May. Like Cooper, Crutcher also coached Carter in track and field.

Even Crutcher’s sons-in-law are employed by Wylie ISD – Heath Andrews is the head baseball coach at Wylie East and Colby Pohlmeier is the Wylie ISD secondary social studies learning specialist.

Teaching Philosophy

In reflecting on his teaching philosophy, Crutcher said he had three philosophies and acknowledged his approach's evolution over his five-decade career.

"When I first started teaching, my philosophy was 'Treat 'em rough and tell 'em nothing,’” he said. “Education was different. It was entirely the responsibility of the student to achieve. The teacher was more of a structured guide.”

After 10 years of teaching, his philosophy shifted.

“My philosophy went to, ‘Ride ‘em hard, put ‘em away wet,’” Crutcher said. “To me, that means you push and push and push kids. It was kind of a Marine Corps approach.”

His third philosophy is one he uses today. 

“You can lead a horse to water, but you better be able to make ‘em drink,” he said. “That’s the key to teaching kids in 2024. You have to get them to drink. Because there are so many distractions today in society, you have to get that kid to want to learn. You have to get them to buy in.”

While his personal teaching philosophies have evolved over the years, Crutcher said students haven’t changed. 

“They are the same as they were 50 years ago,” he said. “Society has changed. With those changes, the role of the teacher has gotten so much more difficult and complex.”

Same Story, Different Book

As a longtime educator, Crutcher is well-versed in the criteria for a highly effective teacher. Fundamental 5, a framework for quality instruction introduced in 2011, emphasizes the importance of teachers framing the lesson, operating within the power zone, facilitating frequent small-group purposeful discussions, recognizing and reinforcing student behaviors, and offering avenues for critical writing. Crutcher said that the framework’s practices have long existed. 

“They just call it something different every few years,” he quipped. 

When Crutcher won Teacher of the Year at Wylie East, campus administrators asked him to speak at an assembly.

“I walked around the auditorium to give the speech,” Crutcher said. “They wanted me to stand behind the podium.”

However, that’s not his style. Crutcher said he always operates in the ‘power zone,’ the second step of Fundamental 5, even when speaking at an assembly. The power zone is to teach in close proximity to students to ensure better classroom management and instruction and to build relationships. 

“There’s nothing new [in education], they just reinvent the wheel,” Crutcher said. “They rewrite the book and call it something else, like ‘Frame your Lesson.’ We used to say, ‘Write your objective on the board.’ It’s all the same basics: encourage kids, be positive.”

Metaphorically Speaking

Crutcher is known for his adages. In fact, they’ve even been given their own name – Crutcherisms.

Cooper Junior High Principal Amanda Lannan taught social studies alongside Crutcher at WEHS, then worked with him again while she was an assistant and associate principal at WHS.

“Even though I was technically over him, I feel like I learned so much from him,” Lannan said. “He was like a mentor to me.”

She finds herself referring back to one of his Crutcherisms often, “salt the oats.” While many have heard the old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink,” Crutcher disagrees.   

“According to Crutcher, ‘Yes you can. Put salt in his oats,’” Lannan said. “He taught me that every kid can learn, you just have to find what it is that will make him want to learn – or want to drink the water.”

Another favorite saying of his is “Put a lemon on it.” The phrase stems from a personal experience during his school days when he injured a finger during a baseball game. 

“It pushed my nail back to my knuckle,” Crutcher said.

After the game, his team went to Furrs Cafeteria to eat, and his coach placed a lemon on his hurt finger. 

“He said it was to ease the pain,” Crutcher said. “Back then, you played no matter what.”

Crutcher said he walked around for a week with a lemon on his finger. Whenever an athlete is hurt, he humorously suggests “putting a lemon on it” as a remedy. 

Other popular Crutcherisms: 

• Don’t wipe your sweat.

  • As told by his daughter, Micah Pohlmeier: “Don’t wipe your sweat in practice, don’t wipe it in a game, you know you can get through anything.”

• C’mon, Slappie!

  • From WHS Senior Michael Oyeka: “He will say it to someone if we mess up a play during practice.”

• Old bull, young bull. 

  • From WHS Teacher and Coach Austin Shields: “When he first came to WHS, that statement was directed to me on more than one occasion. I finally asked him what it meant, and he told me the story. There was an old bull and a young bull sitting on top of a hill. The young bull asked the old bull if he wanted to run down the hill and eat some of the grass below. The old bull told the young bull, ‘let's walk down the hill and eat it all.’ The moral of the story is to work smarter, not harder.”

• Why are you throwing the ball? Just run power!

  • From WHS Head Football Coach Jimmy Carter: "Don't throw the football...let 'MY GUYS' block and run the football!"

 

Round the Clock

From sunup to sundown, Crutcher lives for his students and athletes.

“I get up at 3:36 every morning, without an alarm. I just wake up,” Crutcher said. “I clean up, eat breakfast, then immediately come up here [WHS]. I get here by 5 a.m. during football season. 5:30 when it’s not football season. I am always on this computer trying to figure out a way to enrich kids in the classroom. From 5:30 ‘til 7 a.m., there are two or three of us up here trying to enrich kids in the classroom.”

Extended Family

Crutcher’s family tree grows new branches every time he works with someone new. 

“Calling him a friend is a disservice,” Jason Olford, WEHS head track coach, said. “When I lost my own father, he became a father to me. I know I can call him up at 4:30 in the morning and he'll be awake and willing to talk, whether it's about coaching or just my life. He's taught me to be a better father.”

Olford and Crutcher’s relationship started back in 2015 when Olford was Crutcher’s inclusion teacher at WEHS.

Even Lannan stakes a claim in the Crutcher family. 

“I forced myself into his family to be his third daughter,” she said.

 

The Legacy Continues

Even after 50 years in the classroom and on the field, Crutcher sees no end in sight, nor does he want to.

“I just like to teach, period.”

Here’s to another 50 years, Coach.