The 2005-2006 basketball season was head coach Craig Carse’s eleventh at MSU Billings, making him the
third-longest tenured coach in the history of a program that began in
1927.
The Yellowjackets have posted winning seasons in 10 of Carse’s 11 seasons for an overall record of 205-97.
Those 205 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 home record of 161-10 since 1995 is among the best in the NCAA.
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. Fourteen of those years have been as a head
coach, during which time Carse has built a 284-140 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 (21). Carse earned his undergraduate
degree from Bethany College in West Virginia. He and his wife, Leslie,
both hold degrees from the West Virginia University. |
