STARKVILLE — Qu’Varius “Woodie” Howard stood between two gleaming gold trophies.

Behind Starkville High School’s new head boys basketball coach, high on the side wall of the Yellow Jackets’ gym, was his history — the black banners displaying the program’s accomplishments. In front of Howard, sprawled across the front two rows of wooden bleachers, was his future: the players he’ll be coaching; the students he will represent.

Maybe, Howard said, standing in the middle of it all, things might begin to sink in soon.

They hadn’t by Wednesday morning, when Howard was introduced as the next leader of the Jackets’ program. After spending last season as head coach at Kemper County High School, the former assistant under coach Greg Carter from 2015 to 2020 will return to The Nest in the top position.

“He did a really good job last year at Kemper,” said Carter, the Jackets’ coach for the past 19 seasons. “Now it’s time for him to come on back home.”

As Carter leaves to become the Hattiesburg Public School District’s new athletic director, Howard returns to the school he attended, to the court he once played and later coached on. The younger coach recalled meeting Carter while shooting around during his brother’s practice at Humphrey Coliseum as an eighth-grader, building a relationship that would span nearly two decades.

Howard played under Carter with the Jackets before heading off to East Mississippi Community College. After getting his bachelor’s degree in sports administration from Belhaven University in 2013, Howard hoped to get into coaching on Carter’s Starkville staff.

Once, twice, he asked Carter if he had any openings. Both times, the head coach said no.

But at another coach’s birthday party in 2015, Carter told Howard there might be a chance. Howard met Carter at the high school the coming Monday, and he was in.

“I appreciate you,” Howard told Carter, who looked on from the front row at Wednesday’s press conference. “Everything you’ve done for me.”

In his five seasons as an assistant with the Jackets, Howard did plenty for his head coach, too. It went far beyond mere X’s and O’s; Howard pored over budgets, handled purchasing, worked with the booster club and talked to media in Carter’s stead.

“He’s been preparing himself to be a head coach for a while now,” Carter said.

This past season, Howard got that shot in De Kalb and he didn’t disappoint. As head coach at Kemper County, he led the Wildcats to a 15-3 record and a berth in the state final four. Kemper played in the state semifinals at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson the same day Starkville did, and Howard and Carter talked about their accomplishments.

Even when the Wildcats lost that round and Starkville fell to Clinton in the title game, Howard said the achievement was “special” for both coaches.

He credited Kemper for giving him his first chance at leading a program.

“They took a chance on me and gave me the opportunity to become a head coach, and for that I will always be grateful,” Howard said.

Finding a winner

Starkville athletic director Greg Owen said Howard’s emphasis on important things outside of the game itself was a major factor in the hire. During the interview process,

Howard told Owen that everything comes down to touching lives and building relationships; that he hoped to “win the day” every day both on the court and in life.
Owen said Howard promised to put education before athletics, focus on discipline and help players improve. Each athlete will be evaluated and will receive a development plan to convert their weaknesses into new strengths.

The AD said Howard was “unanimously” the right choice based on what players, parents and Owen himself wanted for the school and the program — someone with a championship mentality, someone to hold them accountable, someone to coach them hard on fundamentals and someone who can win basketball games in the process.

“We definitely found a winner to bring to Starkville,” Owen said.

‘Are you coming home?’

Howard has certainly been that in his time with both the Jackets and the Wildcats. Apart from his success at Kemper County, he helped Starkville win four district titles in five years, reach the state semifinals four times and repeat as state champion in 2019 and 2020.

And although Carter, who oversaw that success in his lengthy tenure, is leaving, Howard knows he can bring his own stamp to the program. He recalled an important text message from a friend Tuesday night.

“Be yourself,” the message read. “Don’t try to be anyone else. Don’t try to be Coach Carter. Just go in and be yourself, and you’ll be fine.”

Howard made sure to do that when he was introduced to loud cheers Wednesday morning. He joked about his mother’s new car, talked about balling up and throwing away futile early copies of his remarks and quipped that he’d succeeded in his first goal as head coach: managing not to trip and fall on his way up to the lectern.

For Howard, the “waiting game” that had begun when Carter announced his departure for Hattiesburg was over. After applying online, the young coach was bombarded with questions while waiting for a phone call about an interview: “Are you coming home?” “Did you apply?”

Now, Howard is home, leading the program for which he grew up playing. Take it from Carter: his replacement will be there a while.

“This is not a stepping-stone job for him,” Carter said. “This is where he’s from, he grew up in this community, and he really wants this program to be successful. He’s invested in it more than anyone who could come here from the outside, and that means a lot.”

It meant a lot to the Jackets’ players, too. When Howard walked through the wooden double doors in the back corner of the gym, he saw smiles on their faces and their hands in the air.

“I think they’re pretty excited about it, and I am as well,” Howard said.

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.