RICHMOND — Ken Carter is returning to coach boys basketball at Richmond High School.
The program is in a fragile state. The players are skeptical about their new coach, maybe even angry. And Carter is planning to mold them with tough love, even having them sign contracts to maintain academics and stay out of trouble.
Sound familiar?
Twenty years after the release of the Hollywood movie “Coach Carter” – a picture that told the story of the coach suspending his undefeated team because of poor academic performance – Carter is coming back to lead the Oilers.
In Richmond Calif., on Tuesday Jan., 4 2004, former Richmond High basketball coach Ken Carter talks about his time at Richmond High and the new movie “Coach Carter.” (Contra Costa Times/Doug Duran)
But his return hasn’t been all that smooth. Because of previous commitments, Carter, 65, missed the first three games. The team forfeited two of them because it didn’t have a coach and had an assistant coach the third to prevent another cancellation.
Carter is expected to be on the bench for the team’s next game.
After parting ways from the program more than two decades, Carter moved from California, became an organic farmer and opened the Coach Carter Impact Academy in Marlin, Texas, about 30 miles from Waco.
He was vague when asked for specifics about why he is returning to coach at his high school alma mater. He’d only say there was interest from the school community.
“People kept calling me to come back,” Carter told the Bay Area News Group on Wednesday. “Richmond will always be my home and Richmond High will always be my school. I take a great deal of pride in what Richmond has to offer and what Richmond gave me. A lot of people poured into my life and I would like to pour into some other young men’s life in Richmond.”
Carter, a star player at the school in the 1970s, takes over a program that won just one game last season and has had only three winning seasons in the last 20 years.
The coach’s arrival signals a change for the East Bay program as it aims to become competitive again.
“I’m happy he’s back in town, and it’s definitely good for Richmond High,” said Salesian coach Bill Mellis, whose powerhouse private school program is less than a half-mile away. “It’s going to be tough, but he’ll get it going. He’s a good guy. I hope that he gets it going, because it would be good for the city of Richmond.”
Challenges await.
As in the movie that starred Samuel L. Jackson in the lead role, Carter is going to have to earn the respect of his players before making progress on the court
“That stuff was just a movie to me,” senior guard Monty George said this week. “I ain’t really seen him do nothing.”
Senior forward Jayden Briscoe added, “I don’t really worry about Coach Carter no more. I didn’t really expect anything like this in the first place to happen. Coach Carter coming in doesn’t really change nothing because he hasn’t really changed anything.”
No matter how the season unfolds, Carter said a sequel to the 2005 film is in the works. He noted that rather than focusing on the current team, the new movie will provide an update about where the main characters from the original are now.
He declined to say any more than that.
“Everywhere I go, everybody always asks me when there is going to be a Coach Carter 2,” Carter said. “I’ve said I wouldn’t do another film until 10 to 20 years from when it came out because then you can determine what type of coach I have been after you’ve seen the finished product.”
Richmond High basketball players Monty George and Jayden Briscoe pause during a basketball practice at the Richmond High School gym in Richmond, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
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Carter took over the program in 1997 and stepped down five years later. During the 1999 season, he famously locked out his team from the basketball gym after 15 of the 45 players in the program did not honor the contracts he had given them, which required that they maintain a 2.3 grade point average.
The hardline stance made national headlines as Carter forfeited numerous games after starting the season undefeated, which became the basis of the 2005 movie.
The movie starred A-list actors Channing Tatum, Ashanti and Jackson, who played Carter in the film.
“It was a crazy thing to be a part of,” Wayne Oliver, a forward on the 1999 team, said in an interview Wednesday. “Our first initial reaction about the lockout as teenagers was that we were upset. We wanted to play basketball and our coach was telling us we can’t play basketball. So yeah, we were just some angry teenagers.”
The Richmond program has mostly struggled since the movie hit theaters.
Last season, when the team finished 1-21, they lost by an average of 48.5 points per game.
Richmond High basketball players work on some drills during practice at the Richmond High School gym in Richmond, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Oliver, now an assistant on the Delta College women’s team in Stockton, said he believes Richmond’s changing demographics, along with the rise of athletic powerhouses like Salesian and El Cerrito, have led to the Oilers’ decline.
Wendell McKines, a 2007 alumnus and arguably the greatest basketball player the school has produced, said this generation of players doesn’t have the same pride in going to their local public school.
“If your school and neighborhood has good academics, why not put your team on the map,” said McKines, who went on to play basketball at New Mexico State. “I represented the school and the city that I stayed in, and that’s what makes you a legend. That’s what leaves a legacy.”
Oakland Raiders tight-end and former Richmond High 1999 basketball player Courtney Anderson talks to Coach Ken Carter during a basketball game played by Coach Carter’s old players in Richmond, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005. Carter was also at Richmond High to donate new basketball jerseys to the girls basketball team and to the girls softball team. Carter’s former players went against the current Richmond High School basketball team to raise awareness of the Coach Carter Foundation. More information: www.coachcarter.com. (Contra Costa Times/Doug Duran)
McKines’ sentiment is echoed by players on this year’s team.
“If everybody in the area actually went to this school, we would have way more athletes,” Briscoe said. “But all the athletes don’t want to go here because we don’t have the resources. So, they’ll take buses and trains to go to other schools just for better equipment. It’s really just that simple. We ain’t got no money.”
Part of the problem is the lack of consistency at head coach. Carter’s arrival means this year’s senior class will be led by its fourth coach in four years.
“The only way they’re going to buy-in is if you’re consistent,” said assistant coach and Jayden’s father, Ted Briscoe. “That’s part of the trust in this. Are you going to be around? I teach too, and I see that any class that has a lot of substitutes, the kids don’t buy in or think the class is important.”
Carter, though, believes he will be coaching at the school for the long haul.
“I’m coming back to Richmond and I won’t just be coaching this year, but next year as well,” Carter said. “I believe we can start something and we can see it to the end.”
Richmond athletic director Diego Garcia and coordinator for athletics Tashaka Merriweather did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment about Carter’s return to the school.
Ken Carter poses for a photo at the taping of the movie “Coach Carter.” From left to right: Nana Gbewonyo, Antwon Tanner, Ken Carter, Rick Gonzalez, Channing Tatum. (Photo courtesy of Ken Carter).
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Now, the expectations are just to field a team that could be competitive in every game.
This year’s group is made up of 10 players, including four seniors. Given that some of them have little to no experience, the team will spend a lot of time simply developing basic fundamentals.
The goals this season are modest.
“Seven wins would be cool,” Jayden said. “I just want to beat Kennedy.”
Still, Carter said he plans to hold his players to a high standard.
Like the movie, the coach said he will hand out contracts for his players, aiming to hold them accountable. He is also planning to implement his tough-love style of coaching.
“I don’t put up with talking back,” Carter said. “They can have all the opinions they want after study hall and practice. But I’m old school. Starting next week, you’re going to see guys doing 2,000 pushups. You’ll see guys doing 100 suicides. That’s just the way it’s going to work.”
Richmond High basketball players Bricen Briscoe, left, and his brother Jayden Briscoe work on defense during a basketball practice at the Richmond High School gym in Richmond, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Even if the response from players is confrontational, Carter intends to stick to his philosophy. As much as he wants to win on the court, his main focus is to give his players the tools to succeed in life.
“The main thing with these boys is getting them qualified to go to the next level,” Carter said. “I don’t consider my success as a teacher based on how many games we win or lose. I just don’t look at leadership like that. I’m a grandfather now and I would like to see these young men have grandkids and see them have a successful house. My whole goal at Richmond this year is to plant a seed and see how this grows.”
Bay Area News Group’s Joseph Dycus contributed to this report.
