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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. In over 30 seasons as a collegiate
coach, Carse has to his credit championships in the Presidents Athletic
Conference, the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the
Southeastern Conference, the Pacific West Conference, and the Heartland
Conference.
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. Sixteen of those years have been as a head coach during which
time Carse has built a 289-162 overall record, including a 210-119
record at MSU Billings. At Alterowitz Gym, Carse's record is
163-19, one of the best home winning percentages in the nation at any
level.
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, leading the nation in scoring and
3-point shooting since 1995.
In 1995, Carse re-entered 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 12 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 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004
and 2006.
They were also the nation's leading scoring team in 1997, 1998, 2000,
2001, and 2002 with second place rankings in 1999,
2003
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 1983-84. In
just his second season, Carse's team went 17-11 in 1984-85. 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 and left the
school with a 79-43 record.
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 stop and at the NAIA, NCAA I, NCAA II, and NCAA III levels. His first position as an assistant at Bethany College,
West Virginia, in 1977-1978 produced a
Presidents Conference Championship and trip to the NCAA Division III
Tournament. At Salem in West Virginia, from 1978 through 1983,
he helped guide the program to a West Virginia Conference power
with conference championships and an NAIA tournament berth.
Bethany, Salem, West
Virginia State, and Montana State Billings all had suffered losing
campaigns before Carse's arrival.
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. Carse has represented the
United States in Europe where he lectured at the Super Cup. He has
also instructed the Chinese National Teams.
A
native of Sistersville, West Virginia, Carse is completing his 33rd
year in college basketball, 30 as a coach and three as a player.
He and his wife of 30 years have two children, David (27) and Lindsey
(23). Carse earned undergraduate
degrees from Bethany College in West Virginia and a masters degree from the West Virginia
University. |
