Sports
Great mentor and leader: Kelvin Carter named Vicksburg Daily News Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year
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Serving many years as an assistant coach at both Vicksburg High And Vicksburg Junior High Schools, Kelvin Carter kept the Gator program as one of the top teams in the state and he has now been named the Vicksburg Daily News Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year.
Carter became the head coach of VHS in 2017 and has successfully stayed as a great mentor and leader for his team.
Just like most of his years, Carter led VHS to a great season where the Gators finished with a 17-8 record. They also managed to reach the second round of the playoffs to wrap up the 2020-2021 season.
“I felt like our season went very well despite of COVID and without us having an off-season, but we were able to bounce back and we had a lot of seniors which was very good for us,” Carter said.
Along with the help of his assistant coaches Lee Bell and Julius Williams, Carter was able to lead VHS to some huge victories this season.
“Our assistant coaches played a great role in player development,” Carter said. “Willams takes the big guys and Bell takes the guards, and we all worked on fundamentals throughout the course of the year,” he added.
Two of the big wins this season were a 91-47 win over McComb, and a huge 60-57 win over No.1 ranked Clinton.
Although COVID-19 forced Carter and the Gators to cancel a few games, the team stayed sharp under the leadership that Carter created.
VHS had plenty of seniors on their starting lineup which were Keshawn Brown, Taylon Smith, and Sean Hardy and Jaden Williams, who all pitched in big numbers to make the season a great one.
Many young athletes are grateful to be coached by someone like Carter who never complains and focuses more on his player’s success. Hardy, Smith, Brown, AJ Lumpkin, and Williams will all sign scholarships to play college basketball on the next level.
Carter is a 1992 graduate of VHS and went on to play basketball at Panola College and the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He proudly bleeds green and white and does everything it takes in order for his team to succeed on and off the court.
Carter was excited to receive the news of being recognized with the VDN Coach of the Year Award.
“I’m very excited about receiving this award and I think I was a very patient assistant coach under Dellie C. Robinson for 12 years, and he always told me to be patient,” Carter said.
Carter is now the second coach to win this award and at the rate he is going, he will be winning more in the future.
Now that the basketball season is over, Carter will be focusing on rebuilding his team after losing multiple seniors to graduation. He will also be coaching in the All Star Game later this month as he was selected for being one of the best coaches in the state of Mississippi.
Carter is still at the beginning stages of his head coaching career. He is already heading in a great direction and Vicksburg Daily News will continue to follow his success over the years to come.
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