Emily Crutchfield enters her first season as an assistant athletic trainer for football at VMI after being hired in June 2025.
She comes to the Institute after spending the past two years with the Seattle Seahawks as a seasonal athletic training intern where she provided medical coverage in both practice and game settings. Her main duties included assisting the athletic training staff with the implementation and development of rehabilitation and treatment plans for acute and long-term injuries.
While attending grad school at the University of Toledo from 2021-23, Crutchfield worked with the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams as well as the football team to rehab injuries and perform exercises for injury prevention.
Before grad school, she served as a student intern for the Seattle Seahawks during the summer of 2020 to observed collaboration between sports scientists, strength and conditioning coaches and athletic training staff regarding individualized rehabilitation program design. She also assisted with organizing and implementing COVID-19 procedures during training camp.
During the summer of 2019, Crutchfield served as an athletic training student intern for the University of Notre Dame working with youth sports as a first responder and athletic training student to provide injury evaluation, acute care, and documentation of injuries.
Crutchfield attended the University of Delaware from 2017-2021 as an undergraduate in athletic training working with the men’s soccer, men’s lacrosse and football programs in addition to completing rotations at a physical therapy clinic and physician office. She earned the Dr. C. Roylander Outstanding Senior Athletic Training Student Award given to a student who has demonstrated leadership, scholarship, and achievement.
She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in athletic training from Delaware in 2021 before going on to earn her master’s degree in exercise science with a concentration in athletic training from the University of Toledo in 2023.
