OXFORD — Tyson Carter understands.
When you’re born into a coach’s family, you learn quick: Long nights, odd hours and scheduling conflicts abound.
For Tyson’s father, Starkville High School boys basketball coach Greg Carter, one of those regrettable overlaps happened Saturday. On the same evening Tyson, a senior guard at Mississippi State, was honored by his school on senior day before the Bulldogs’ game against Ole Miss in Starkville, Greg and the Yellow Jackets had a date with Murrah for the MHSAA Class 6A championship at The Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford.
Greg knew he couldn’t be in two places at once — unfortunately, he had to miss out on Tyson’s big day.
“I hate that I couldn’t be there,” Greg Carter said. “I really wanted to be there.”
Initially, he thought he’d be able to make it. Thinking that the state title game started at 8 p.m. as it had done in the past, Carter planned on attending the senior day festivities before the 5:30 p.m. tip at Humphrey Coliseum while his players and assistants headed up for Oxford early. Following that plan, he’d arrive at The Pavilion around 7 p.m.
Then Carter found out the state had changed the time — the Jackets’ championship bout started at 7 p.m., too close for comfort. Unable to make the senior day celebration at The Hump, he went up to Oxford.
But Carter still did his best to be there even though he couldn’t attend in person. He FaceTimed one of Tyson’s friends during the celebration, watching his son be honored the only way he could. Still, he knew it wasn’t the same as taking the court next to his son.
“I hate missing out on it,” Carter said.
In the last conversation the Carters had before Tyson and the Bulldogs played Ole Miss, Greg laid out what his son already knew he had to do: beat the Rebels one last time.
Meanwhile, an understanding Tyson had his own advice for his dad: capture his own championship, the second in a row for Carter’s Starkville team.
“That was the last thing he said: ‘Go win a gold ball,'” Carter recalled.
Carter and the Jackets did, beating Murrah 58-51 for their second straight championship. On the same night, 102 miles away, Tyson got the win, too. Mississippi State routed Ole Miss 69-44.
It was a bittersweet moment for the Jackets’ coach, who got to see his son complete his regular-season career with the Bulldogs after Tyson played under his father at Starkville High.
“It’s been a long four years,” Carter said. “I’ve enjoyed the ride watching him play.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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