Born in Salisbury, Maryland, Crouse grew up in Sparta, North Carolina where his family has deep roots. He attended Alleghany High School, joined the wrestling team, and excelled on the mats under Coach Jim Smith. While in high school, Crouse decided to pursue a career in education and coaching. Graduating from Alleghany in 1985, Crouse attended Appalachian State University, majoring in Industrial Arts Education. Due to an upcoming retirement at Alleghany and a potential job opportunity, Crouse worked to complete his degree in just three years. During his final semester of college, Crouse walked onto the Appalachian wrestling team and started in a few varsity matches for the Mountaineers. In the spring of 1988, he completed his student teaching at Mitchell High School and graduated from Appalachian. While at Mitchell, Crouse assisted Coach Steve Atwood, whose team won the 1988 1A/2A State Tournament. That fall, Crouse was hired at Alleghany and was an assistant coach for the Trojans, who won the 1989 1A/2A State Tournament. During the 1989-90 season, Crouse ascended to head coach at Alleghany. Under his leadership, Alleghany, a 1A school, was one of North Carolina’s most dominating wrestling programs despite an enrollment of around four hundred students. The Trojans won three 1A/2A dual team state titles (1997, 1999, 2002), and two state tournament titles (1997, 1998). Crouse’s teams won six regional titles and ten conference championships earning him conference Coach-of-the-Year nine times. Eleven of his wrestlers won a combined fourteen individual state titles. Crouse’s dual meet record at Alleghany was 180-39-2 including a conference dual record of 66-4-1. Crouse was the North Carolina Mat News Coach-of-the-Year in 1997 and 1999. In 1997, Alleghany became the first 1A/2A school to capture both a dual team and state tournament title in the same season and earned a ranking of 49th nationally from Rob Sherrill’s Prep Wrestling Coast-to-Coast Magazine. Crouse would go on to pursue a degree in administration and would step down as Alleghany’s coach in 2003. To remain connected with wrestling, he then started officiating. Crouse has been an official in the NCHSAA’s Piedmont Association (2003-present), the Virginia High School League (2014-present) and has worked as an NCAA official since 2013. Crouse has officiated in multiple North Carolina and Virginia State tournaments and NHSCA National tournaments. He recently officiated in the NAIA National (2021, 2022) and the NCAA Division II Regional tournaments (2021, 2022, 2023). Crouse retired from the Alleghany County School system in 2017 and currently owns the Twin Oaks General Store and Café in Sparta.