Yellowjacket Coach to Ride for Stroke Awareness (8/2/06)

BILLINGS, MT – Montana State University-Billings men’s basketball coach Craig Carse feels like he’s one of the lucky ones.  On May 28, 2005 – still months shy of his fiftieth birthday – Carse suffered a serious stroke while in his office during the annual MSU Billings summer high school basketball tournament. 

Fourteen months later, Carse plans to put his body to the test to raise awareness about strokes.  He will depart Billings on August 3, zigzagging through 14 states on a pair of 24-speed bikes from Jim Downs of The Spoke Shop in Billings.  Downs has also been instrumental in assisting Carse with direction and instruction while he has trained.  Carse plans to take between 10 and 13 days to complete the journey which will cover 1,000 miles of peddling.  The major sponsors of the ride are the University of Washington Medicine Regional Heart Center and CardioSEAL®, made by NMT Medical.

“My hope is to aid in stroke awareness and encourage stroke victims,” Carse says.  “Personally, I just want to be a better person and needed a purpose to focus on something that assists my health and stimulates my competitive nature.”

The plan is for Carse to ride 10 segments of 80-120 miles, concluding in his hometown of Sistersville, WV.  Along the way Carse will put rubber to pavement in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.  Periodic updates of his progress will be posted at www.msubillings.edu/athletics.   

In addition to riding for stroke awareness, Carse is also riding to raise funds for the MSU Billings Athletics Department.  The main goal is to raise money for the athletic training needs of the school’s 200-plus student-athletes, including equipment and services related to health and safety of the student-athletes.  Anyone wishing to donate to the fund can contact the MSU Billings Department of Athletics at (406) 657-2369.

In addition to extensive rehabilitation following his stroke, Carse received a CardioSEAL® implant in his heart.  The procedure was done on July 19, 2005 by Dr. Steven Goldberg at University of Washington Medicine Regional Heart Center.  After making trips to Seattle for checkups in the ensuing 13 months, Carse eventually received clearance to begin a rigorous exercise regimen.  Since May 21 that regimen has revolved around the wheels of those two bicycles from The Spoke Shop and nutrition from Isagenix.

CardioSEAL® and STARFlex® are designed to close different types of holes in the heart without open heart surgery.  NMT Medical, the maker of CardioSEAL®, recently embarked on a 1600 patient randomized, controlled clinical trial, called CLOSURE I, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of transcatheter PFO closure using the company's proprietary STARFlex cardiac septal repair implant compared to best medical therapy.

CardioSEAL and STARFlex have been issued the 'CE' Mark in Europe, and are commercially available in several countries.  STARFlex® and CardioSEAL® are both commercially available in Europe. CardioSEAL is available under HDE (humanitarian device exemption) in the USA. STARFlex is an investigational device in the US and is only available to patients in the CLOSURE I PFO, stroke and TIA clinical trial.

Last season, Carse’s eleventh at MSU Billings, began just six months after his stroke.  He guided the Yellowjackets to a 20-8 overall record and a share of the Heartland Conference regular season title.  Since arriving in Billings in 1996, Carse has become the second-longest tenured coach in the school’s history.  With a 204-98 overall record at MSU Billings, he also has the second-most wins in the program’s 78 seasons of competition.

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 combined 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 ten years produced more of the same:  three more NCAA berths, three PacWest Conference Championships, a Heartland Conference title, a number of national, conference, and school records and Coach of the Year awards.  During that time, the Yellowjackets 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 seasons 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.