Tusculum College interim athletic director Doug Jones has appointed Devan Carter as the interim head coach of the Pioneer women’s basketball program.  Carter replaces Katrina Williams following her three seasons at the Greeneville, Tennessee school.

Carter is in his third season as associate head coach of the Tusculum men’s basketball program, a position he will also continue to serve.

Carter is the second men’s assistant in as many days to be named as the interim head coach of a women’s program.  Yesterday, Motlow CC announced that men’s assistant Arthur Latham was appointed as the interim head coach of the Lady Bucks basketball program (Motlow CC Men’s Assistant Named Interim Head Women’s Coach).

Carter has held the post as women’s assistant coach since earlier this fall and has guided the Pioneers to a 6-5 overall record, including 4-4 in South Atlantic Conference play.

Tusculum opened the year winning six of its first eight contests, including a convincing 61-40 victory over Lees-McRae College and followed with a thrilling 73-70 overtime win over King University.  Carter has also led the Pioneers to league wins over Brevard College, Catawba College, Wingate University and Lenoir-Rhyne University.

“We are very fortunate to have Devan Carter at Tusculum College and I appreciate his willingness to serve in this capacity,” said Jones.  “Devan is a quality person of high character. His work ethic, attitude and passion are the qualities that we are looking for in our department.  I truly believe that our student-athletes will benefit greatly from the leadership Coach Carter will provide.”

As associate head coach of the men’s team, Carter serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator, director of skill development and coordinates Tusculum’s summer basketball camps.

“I would like to thank our President, Dr. Nancy Moody and Doug Jones, for trusting me to lead this program for the 2015-2016 season,” said Carter.  “We have a very special group of young ladies and I am honored to be their coach.”  We will continue to build good habits on and off the floor, and we will stay committed to making our Tusculum family and the Greeneville community proud of our women’s basketball program.”

Prior to his arrival at Tusculum, Carter served two seasons at Hargrave Military Academy as an assistant coach.  While at the Chatham, Virginia prep school, he worked to enhance the individual development of guards and post players.  He served as the program’s operations specialist and handled the recruiting data base, film coordination and maintained the team’s web site.  Carter supervised players’ campus activities and facilitated and organized community service projects.

While on the coaching staff at Hargrave Military Academy, he assisted in the recruitment and coaching of several collegiate players including: Montreazl Harrell (Louisville), Codi Miller-McIntyre (Wake Forest), Corey Heyward (Georgia Tech), Charles Buggs (Minnesota), Terry Rozier (Louisville), Anton Gill (Louisville), Greg McClinton (Wake Forest), Neville Fincher (Kansas State), and Donte Clark (Massachusetts).

Carter, a native of Cascade, Virginia, was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at NCAA Division I Elon University.  He was instrumental to the major turnaround in the Elon basketball program starting in the Southern Conference championship game against nationally ranked Davidson College in Elon’s first nationally televised game on ESPN.

He played one season at Hargrave Military Academy prior to Elon during the 2005-06 season.  He was a McDonald’s All-American nominee at Morehead High School in Eden, North Carolina and played in the prestigious North Carolina East-West All-Star Game.  He was named to the Greensboro News and Record All-Area first team and the All-Northwest Region team as a senior.  He also garnered All-Conference accolades three times and was a two-time team MVP, establishing the Morehead High School single-game scoring record with 48 points.

Following Elon, he briefly played professionally in Europe, touring Ireland, Finland and the United Kingdom.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Elon in 2010.  He was the 2010 recipient of the Phillips Excellence Award for Academics and the Dewey Andrews Scholarship, both from Elon.

The Tusculum women’s basketball team returns to action this Wednesday when they host Mars Hill University for a 6 p.m. contest.

http://www.tusculumpioneers.com/article.asp?articleID=5865

Photo Courtesy Tusculum Athletics