STARKVILLE — Starkville High boys basketball coach Greg Carter admits he was surprised by his team’s performance this season.
“As coaches, we talked before the season and we really thought next year, if our current players continued to develop, we would be in a position to contend for a state championship,” Carter said. “We never thought we would be a state championship contender this season. In January, we just kept getting better and better.
“Our defense was always great. Our offense became good enough to contend this year.”
Starkville won its final 13 games to capture the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A state championship for a second time under Carter. For this success, Carter is The Dispatch’s Large Schools Coach of Year for boys basketball.
It was the Yellow Jackets’ eighth appearance in Jackson under Carter, and fourth in the past six seasons. Still, Carter was caught off guard by the performance of his 14th team.
“We started out slow,” Carter said. “However, the one thing about these guys, they always knew what we needed to get better at and they always worked hard on what we needed to get better at. Each night, a different guy stepped up and played well. In sports, a lot of people talk about momentum. We really built up some momentum and rode that all the way through the playoffs.”
A team performing its best when it matters most is a trademark of Carter. The Yellow Jackets have built a winning tradition based on hard work, attention to detail, defending, and rebounding.
“You have to defend and rebound to play here,” Starkville senior Josh Skinner said. “Believe it or not, we try to make playing defense fun. There is a tradition at Starkville. We take pride in being everybody’s biggest game. Coach Carter is never going to change, but he is easy to play for. He just wants your best in everything.
“The success of the program speaks for itself. You come here wanting to play and wanting to win.”
Carter said it is easy to get players to buy into the system. Many have grown up coming to Starkville High games and know price to pay long before the uniform is issued.
“Our defensive philosophy is never going to change,” Carter said. “We won’t give up easy baskets or offensive rebounds. We are not going to give up 3-point shots. The players know what to expect. The adjustment is when we play other teams. Our players get to see how hard other teams play against us. Everybody wants to beat Starkville. It’s a rivalry game with everybody in the area.
“The biggest adjustment these players have to make is adjusting to each of the opponents because our style is not going to change. We have a winning tradition here. You are either going to uphold that tradition or move on.”
Carter patterned his coaching philosophy after the way he played the game at Forest High and Mississippi State. While at MSU, Carter helped lead MSU to the 1991 Southeastern Conference regular-season championship.
“Easily my two biggest influences were my high school coach Durwood Smith and my college coach Richard Williams,” Carter said. “I drew a lot from them, especially the disciplined part. The biggest thing is not letting my conveniences get in the way of what is best for the team. If something is best for the team, even though it may inconvenience me, that is what we are going to do.
“The biggest thing is being disciplined and being attentive to detail. We are always going to put a lot of hard work in. We are going to play within a system, and we are going to be committed to excellence.”
Carter began his coaching career by serving seven seasons as an assistant coach at MSU under Williams and later Rick Stansbury.
“I really love what I do,” Greg Carter said. “I got into high school basketball to be a head coach. I may become a college assistant again one day, but, honestly, I could see myself retiring here at Starkville. It has been great being a high school basketball coach. When I left MSU, I was going to only do it to become a head coach at a high school or on the junior college level. I chose the high school route.
“There is nothing like being a head coach. We have been blessed with so many great players here.”
Carter’s enjoyment of his job has been multiplied the last couple of seasons, as his son, Tyson, has played on the varsity team. A 6-foot-3 junior guard on the state championship team, Tyson Carter and Toria Carter, who is a junior at MSU, are the children for Greg and his wife, Schreese.
“(Coaching his son) has really been great,” Carter said. “It has been difficult at times, too. There have been some bumps in the road, like any other relationship. That is to be expected. But it has been great sharing these experiences with him. He is a like a coach on the floor.”
While Carter has been blessed with several talented players, he also knows the good fortune of working with a supportive administration.
“Our administration has been wonderful the whole time,” Carter said. “Even though I have worked with different principals, different superintendents, and different athletic directors, it has always been the same thing. The people here always do whatever we need to do to be successful. You need the players, but you also need administration that supports everything you want to do. I have both of those.
“We have really had some great players who have worked hard to become better players and matured into becoming into better people.”
Since Carter and his staff felt like this upcoming season would be a really big one for the Yellow Jackets, it is time for the squad to back up that expectation.
“Playing for coach Carter has been a great experience,” Starkville sophomore Jesse Little said. “There is a lot of tradition behind this program. We know the expectations because we lived them this year. Now our job is to go out and do our best to continue the success.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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