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Craig Carse
Head Coach
12th Season

Coaching Record Following the 2006-2007 Season:
MSU Billings (12 years): 210-119
Overall (16 years): 290-159

 

The 2007-2008 basketball season is head coach Craig Carse’s 13th at MSU Billings, making him the second-longest tenured coach in the history of a program that began in 1927. 

The Yellowjackets have posted winning seasons in 10 of Carse’s 12 seasons for an overall record of 210-119.  Those 210 victories also rank Carse second in school history for career wins, trailing only Hall of Fame coach Mike Harkins who spent 16 years as the Jackets’ head coach. 

Carse’s success in Billings continues a pattern that has followed him across the country throughout his 30-year college career.  He has coached and taught the game of basketball from coast to coast as well as overseas in those years.  Fifteen of those years have been as a head coach, during which time Carse has built a 290-159 overall record.

After guiding the Yellowjackets to the 2002 Pacific West Conference Championship and a berth into the NCAA Tournament, Carse was named as the 2002 PacWest Conference Coach of the Year.  Despite multiple injuries, the 2003 squad finished  with a 19-8 overall mark.  In 2004, the Yellowjackets were 17-10 after again being bit by the injury bug.  The 2005 Yellowjackets finished 19-8 and lost to only one team in the final 14 games of the season.  The Jackets were Heartland Conference Co-Champions in 2006 with a 9-3 league mark and a 20-8 overall record.

After a seven year run as an assistant at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, in 1994 Carse went to work as Executive Vice-President of the United States Basketball Academy.  During that year, Carse developed an innovative style and system of play that features the strengths of individual players.  Incorporated in this were an up tempo attack, pressure defense, three pointers and substitutions galore.  That system has now turned the Yellowjackets into one of the top offensive teams in college basketball.

In 1995, Carse reentered the world of collegiate coaching and took over a Yellowjacket program that had gone 5-21 the year before and had only one winning season in the previous four.  On the court he implemented the system that he had worked feverishly on the year before.  Off the court discipline was the new rule.  His players have since subscribed to rigorous direction designed to maintain excellence and high academic standards.  Carse's 11 MSU Billings seasons have seen over a 3.00 team grade point average.

This new philosophy changed the Yellowjackets’ fortunes almost immediately.  In Carse’s first season, MSU Billings advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years and won 20 games for only the second time in the 1990s.  Despite a limited roster, that first team in 1996 managed to lead the nation in three pointers and ranked third in scoring.

The next six years produced more of the same:  three more NCAA berths, three PacWest Conference Championships, a number of national, conference, and school records and Coach of the Year awards.  During that time, the Yellowjackets have led the nation in three pointers made per game in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006.  They were also the nation's leading scoring team in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 with a second place ranking in 1999 and 2006

Of Carse’s many recruits over the years, several have advanced to professional careers.  While at LSU, Carse was the primary recruiter of Chris Jackson, Stanley Roberts, Shaquille O'Neal, Gerrt Hammink and Ronnie Henderson.  All were NBA draft picks with O'Neal being the #1 and Jackson a #3 selection.  At small West Virginia State, Carse also produced NBA selections.  Both Ron Moore and Ronnie Legette were drafted a few months after playing in the NAIA National Championship game.  From MSU Billings, the Yellowjackets’ All-American Titus Warmsley has been invited to the camp of the Boston Celtics and other players have played overseas.

Carse took over the program at West Virginia State in 1984.  In just his second season, Carse's team went 18-10 in 1985.  In his final two seasons at the school, the Yellow Jackets went 57-8 with conference, tournament, and district championships.  Carse guided West Virginia State to the NAIA national title game in 1987.

After playing LSU in a Hawaii tournament that year, longtime mentor Dale Brown offered Carse a position as an assistant on his staff.  Carse was to become LSU's primary recruiter and Brown's top aide.   During Carse's time as assistant coach, the Tigers were one of the most successful teams in the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA.  The Tigers advanced to six-straight NCAA Tournaments and were ranked as high as #1 nationally.

Carse has coached and participated in National Championship Tournaments at every level.   His first position as an assistant at Bethany College, West Virginia in 1977 saw a 3-18 team the year before, win the Presidents Conference Championship and advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 1978.  At Salem in West Virginia, from 1978 through 1983, he helped turn a losing program into a West Virginia Conference power with conference championships and a NAIA tournament berth.  His West Virginia State, Louisiana State and Montana State teams all participated in national tournaments.  The season before Carse's arrival at West Virginia State and Montana State both programs had suffered losing campaigns.

Carse is a noted speaker and clinician.  He has lectured and taught the game of basketball nationally and internationally, including a trip to Australia with the Yellowjackets three years ago.  Carse represented the United States in Europe at the Super Cup and in Asia during clinics with the Chinese National Team.

A native of Sistersville, West Virginia, Carse recently completed his 31st year in college basketball.  He and his wife of 28 years have two children, David (25) and Lindsey (22).  Carse earned his undergraduate degree from Bethany College in West Virginia.  He and his wife, Leslie, both hold degrees from the West Virginia University.

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