Craig Carter Named Assistant Basketball Coach
May 17 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, NJ - Craig Carter has been named assistant men's basketball coach at Rutgers University, it was announced today by Scarlet Knight head coach Fred Hill.
A standout guard at Rutgers from 1987-91, where he played on two NCAA Tournament teams, Carter comes to Rutgers from Siena College where he served as an assistant coach during the 2005-06 season. A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Carter, 36, has also served in various capacities on the basketball staffs at the University of Massachusetts, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Elizabeth City State University (NC) and Lincoln High School in Brooklyn.
Carter's responsibilities at Rutgers will include off-campus recruiting and individual player instruction, as well as scouting and game preparation.
"I am excited that Craig is returning to his alma mater,' said Hill. 'He was an outstanding player for Rutgers, and has a burning desire to help return Rutgers basketball to the elite level. Craig has a passion for the game and an outstanding work ethic. The head coaches that Craig has worked under rave about his abilities and dedication.
'Craig's personable demeanor and enthusiasm will be important ingredients to our staff,' Hill added. 'He knows and loves Rutgers University and will be a tremendous ambassador for our program. As a former Rutgers student-athlete himself, Craig will serve as a terrific role model for our players. Craig is a winner, plain and simple.'
At Siena under first-year head coach Fran McCaffery, Carter was an integral member of a coaching staff that inherited a program that had won six games the previous year and improved to 15 wins in 2005-06. Among Carter's responsibilities were recruiting, scouting reports, assisting with game preparation, and on-court coaching during practices and games.
Carter spent the 2004-05 season as the director of basketball operations at UMass where he handled a myriad of duties that included the coordination of all aspects of team travel, helped in establishing the team's schedule and workout regiments, and aided the coaching staff un monitoring the academic progress of student-athletes and assisting in the preparation of opponent scouting reports. Prior to his stint at UMass, Carter spent a year as director of basketball operations at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2003-04, where he was responsible for a wide array of duties within the basketball program, working under McCaffery.
Carter was an assistant coach at Elizabeth City State in North Carolina for two seasons (2001-03). Prior to his stint at ECS, he served as an assistant coach at the famed Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1999-2001, while also an elementary school teacher in the New York school system. Carter also served as an assistant coach at Norwalk Community College (CT) in 1998 and was a video coordinator with the WNBA's New York Liberty in the summer of 2001.
Before beginning his coaching career in 1998, Carter worked in the corporate world in various roles, including financial analyst, foreign exchange analyst and trading support specialist with some of the nation's top firms, General Electric, Global Consumer Finance and Chase Manhattan Bank.
Carter enjoyed a fine playing career with the Scarlet Knights, serving as team captain in his junior and senior seasons, He helped lead the Scarlet Knights to NCAA Tournament berths in 1989 and 1991 as well as to the NIT in 1990. He was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament Team in 1989. Carter is tied for sixth all-time in career assists at Rutgers with 311, tied for 10th all-time in career steals with 121, and is among the top 50 all-time scorers in Rutgers history. Carter earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Rutgers in 1992. As a scholastic standout at Bronx Science, Carter was an All-Bronx choice by the New York Daily News, The New York Post and Newsday.
'I am thrilled to be returning to Rutgers,' said Carter. 'I have a great deal of respect for Coach Hill. He is a true motivator with tireless energy and I am confident he will lead us to great heights in the BIG EAST and on the national stage. I am proud that he is the head coach at my alma mater and I am equally proud to have the opportunity to serve on his staff. I thoroughly enjoyed my college experience as both a student and an athlete, and am anxious to continue my career at a school that I believe in deeply - Rutgers University.'
