David Carter

Position: Head Coach Experience: Third Year Alma Mater: St. Mary's (1989)

David Carter enters his third season as the head coach of the University of Nevada men's basketball team and is in his 13th year overall with the program in 2011-12. In two seasons under his leadership the Wolf Pack has gone 34-32 including a 21-13 mark his first year. Carter led Nevada to its eighth consecutive postseason appearance and its seventh straight 20-win season in his first year at the helm.

In year one, Carter wasted no time in continuing the success that he had helped build in 10 years as a Wolf Pack assistant coach. He also became just the second first-year head coach in school history to win 20 games in his debut season.

Carter returns a group of 11 letterwinners for his third season as head coach, with all five starters coming back in 2011-12. Heading the list is preseason WAC Player of the Year as chosen by the leagues coaches Deonte Burton. Burton earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors last season. Senior forward Dario Hunt and junior guard Malik Story were named the WAC Coaches Preseason second team.

Last season, Nevada went 13-19 with primarily an entire new roster. The lone returning starter was Hunt, who lead the WAC in rebounding, grabbing 9.7 per game and blocked shots averaging 1.8 per contest his junior year. He also ranked nationally in both categories. The 6-8 forward was named to the WAC Defensive Team for the second consecutive season. The newcomers provided a glimpse of what is to come as Burton became the fourth Nevada player to earn WAC Freshman of the Year honors. Burton was joined on the WAC Newcomer team by junior forward Olek Czyz, who returns for his senior campaign this season.

Carter's first team turned in a 21-13 overall record, marking its seventh consecutive 20-win season and its ninth straight winning season. The Wolf Pack finished in a tie for second in the WAC with an 11-5 record, its seventh consecutive finish in the WAC's top two. Nevada also earned its eighth consecutive postseason appearance with a bid to the 2010 National Invitation Tournament, and won its opening-round postseason game for the fourth time in seven years.

Carter's up-tempo offense also broke several school records and ranked among the nation's best in 2009-10. Nevada scored 2,703 points in 2009-10 to break the school record for points scored, besting the mark of 2,632 that the Wolf Pack had in its 2006-07 campaign. The Wolf Pack led the WAC and ranked 14th in the nation in scoring, averaging 79.5 points per game. The Wolf Pack also surpassed its school records for field goals made (983) and attempted (2,040) in Carter's first year as head coach. The team made 48.2 percent of its field-goal attempts to rank second in the WAC and 17th in the NCAA that season.

Carter was named the 17th head coach in the history of Nevada's men's basketball program on April 3, 2009. He replaced Mark Fox, who left Nevada after five seasons to become head coach at the University of Georgia.
"David brings great integrity and competitiveness to this position and he is the right person to continue to lead the Wolf Pack basketball program forward," Director of Athletics Cary Groth said when Carter was hired. "He provides continuity and has played a significant role in building the foundation that has made our program so successful."
"David Carter is an excellent choice to be the next head coach at the University of Nevada. He understands all of the priorities and responsibilities of being a student-athlete and has been an integral part of the success of our program. We agree that success means good citizenship, graduation, and winning for every student athlete," then-University of Nevada President Milt Glick said.

In his 10 years as a Wolf Pack assistant coach, including five seasons as the associate head coach, Carter played an integral role in Nevada's climb to the top of the Western Athletic Conference and into the national spotlight. He helped lead the Wolf Pack to five Western Athletic Conference titles, four NCAA Tournament invitations, six consecutive 20-win seasons and seven straight postseason appearances during his time on the bench. He was also recognized as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation, making FOXSports.com's list of the top 10 Mid-Major Assistant Coaches in 2007-08 and being named the best assistant coach in the Western Athletic Conference in Street's & Smith's 2004-05 College Basketball National Preview.

"It is truly an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to lead this program," Carter said when he was hired. "I am thankful to everyone at the University of Nevada and in this community for supporting me, and I look forward to sustaining the success and values that we have worked hard to achieve here at Nevada."

An accomplished basketball player himself, Carter has been able to successfully relate his experiences as a guard to the perimeter players on the Wolf Pack roster.

His extensive knowledge of the Nevada offense has helped the program grow from year-to-year, breaking the single-season record for scoring three times in his tenure on the bench (2004-05 and 2006-07 as an assistant and 2009-10 as head coach). The Wolf Pack also set single-season mark for assists with 571 in 2006-07.

Three of Carter's guards - Ramon Sessions (2005), Armon Johnson (2008) and Burton (2011) - have been named the WAC Freshman of the Year, while Sessions was an All-WAC selection in 2007 and Johnson was an two-time all-league honoree (2009 and 2010). Sessions ended his career ranked second in all-time assists at Nevada, while Johnson ended up fourth.

Carter's guards have also found success at the next level in the NBA. Sessions, who is now with the Cleveland Cavaliers, is entering his fifth year in the NBA after being a 2007 draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks. Johnson was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2010 NBA Draft and will play in his second first professional season in 2011-12.

Guard Marcelus Kemp earned first-team All-WAC honors in each of his final two seasons at Nevada. After ranking second on the team in scoring in each of the previous two years, Kemp led the team and ranked second in the WAC with 20.0 points per game in 2007-08.

Carter came to the Wolf Pack in 1999 after spending two seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, Saint Mary's College, in Moraga, Calif. He also had coaching stints at Eastern Washington University and Diablo Valley Community College. In three years at Diablo Valley, Carter helped the team to its first Final Eight appearance.

Prior to his coaching days, Carter played four years (1985-89) at Saint Mary's College. He helped lead the Gaels to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1989, and the team finished the season ranked 17th in the nation with a 25-5 record. He was a four-year starter and team captain. Carter also set the school record for career assists at Saint Mary's, a record that stood from 1989-97, and currently ranks second all time for the Gaels. Carter was inducted into the Saint Mary's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

Carter played high school basketball at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, one of the most prominent programs in the country. In three years at Crenshaw, his teams lost only five games and won state championships in 1983 and 1985.

He received his bachelor of arts in liberal studies from Saint Mary's in 1989.

Carter and his wife, Kimberly, have a daughter, Alexis (13) and a son, Cameron (11).

Nevada Wolf Pack Men's Basketball

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