New Charlotte Country Day boys basketball coach David Carrier said he wasn’t looking for a job.
He said he loved the parents, students and his athletic director at Westchester Country Day School in High Point. Carrier had coached at the school since 2014. He was happy there. But then he started to get phone calls.
A whole lot of phone calls.
“ ’Did you hear the Country Day job is open,’ they would tell me,” Carrier said. “I didn’t think about it and then I had some more people calling me and saying, ‘This could be a smart move for you.’ I thought about it for a day or two, and talked about it with my wife and my boys and they were excited.
“Then I just decided, ‘Let me apply for the job. It can’t hurt.’ ”
On Friday, Carrier was named coach at Country Day after a nationwide search that included nearly 100 candidates and eight finalists, according to Bucs athletic director Abe Wehmiller.
“We saw in Dave a coach who understands the landscape of basketball in our state association and conference,” Wehmiller said, “has strong relationships in basketball circles and connects naturally with students both on the court and beyond. Everyone we talked to spoke of him as a coach who gets the most out of his players and teams.”
Carrier, 55, returns to Charlotte to coach in the same CISAA conference where he won two state championships at Providence Day, one of Country Day’s biggest rivals. And Carrier is used to winning. He’s 434-236 overall, including a 227-93 run at Providence Day over 11 seasons that included four straight state finals appearances from 1996-2000. In 25 seasons, he has only had one team not finish above .500.
Now, Carrier will try to build a winner at a school that has never won a state championship.
“Even when I was Providence Day, I would look at Country Day and think it was a leader, academically and athletically in the entire (N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association), much less in Charlotte,” said Carrier, who played basketball at Charlotte Christian and at Division III Methodist University. “We would go over there and the people were always so friendly, from PA announcer Ken Gunter to (former baseball coach) Ed Walton. We became friends. And, honestly, I felt they’ve had a few good years in basketball, but it’s been hard to be consistent.”
Providence Day coach Brian Field, who played for Carrier in middle school at Providence Day and later was a varsity assistant under Carrier, thinks Country Day hired a gem.
“Country Day is getting a passionate coach that loves the game and loves his players and has a wonderful ability to get them to play as hard as they can,” said Field, whose teams have been nationally ranked in four of the past six seasons. “They’re getting a great leader, who really leads by example and has incredible life values that he’s going to lead with, and I think he’ll turn them around. It’s a program that he’ll get going in the right direction.”
Field and Carrier call each other “brothers,” and have already made a pact that no matter how big the rivalry between their schools get, they will always hug in the postgame handshake line and tell each other, “I love you.”
“If this was 15 years ago, it would’ve been awkward,” Field said. “Both of us have matured and gotten comfortable with who we are as coaches. Our friendship is more important than a basketball game.”
For now, Carrier said he’s more concerned with reworking Country Day from the inside-out instead of worrying about rival teams.
He’ll start in July as basketball program head and athletic facility and operations manager. He’ll work to develop the Bucs’ middle school players, and he said he’ll coach at Country Day the way he always has.
“It comes down to kids who believe in being unselfish and have the desire to compete with anybody,” Carrier said. “If we get in there and we go to work every day, and the kids know, ‘Hey man, coach Carrier loves me and he’s here for me, not just in basketball but forever,’ that stuff goes a long way to helping you. I can’t start barking orders and expect them to listen.
“Country Day has made a commitment to me that they believe their basketball program can reach great heights and develop a sense of pride for the whole school. I believe I can do it. I’m 55 but a lot of the best coaches in America are older than me. My enthusiasm is through the roof. I’m ready to get in there and get going, one workout at a time.”
He said he loved the parents, students and his athletic director at Westchester Country Day School in High Point. Carrier had coached at the school since 2014. He was happy there. But then he started to get phone calls.
A whole lot of phone calls.
“ ’Did you hear the Country Day job is open,’ they would tell me,” Carrier said. “I didn’t think about it and then I had some more people calling me and saying, ‘This could be a smart move for you.’ I thought about it for a day or two, and talked about it with my wife and my boys and they were excited.
“Then I just decided, ‘Let me apply for the job. It can’t hurt.’ ”
On Friday, Carrier was named coach at Country Day after a nationwide search that included nearly 100 candidates and eight finalists, according to Bucs athletic director Abe Wehmiller.
“We saw in Dave a coach who understands the landscape of basketball in our state association and conference,” Wehmiller said, “has strong relationships in basketball circles and connects naturally with students both on the court and beyond. Everyone we talked to spoke of him as a coach who gets the most out of his players and teams.”
Carrier, 55, returns to Charlotte to coach in the same CISAA conference where he won two state championships at Providence Day, one of Country Day’s biggest rivals. And Carrier is used to winning. He’s 434-236 overall, including a 227-93 run at Providence Day over 11 seasons that included four straight state finals appearances from 1996-2000. In 25 seasons, he has only had one team not finish above .500.
Now, Carrier will try to build a winner at a school that has never won a state championship.
“Even when I was Providence Day, I would look at Country Day and think it was a leader, academically and athletically in the entire (N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association), much less in Charlotte,” said Carrier, who played basketball at Charlotte Christian and at Division III Methodist University. “We would go over there and the people were always so friendly, from PA announcer Ken Gunter to (former baseball coach) Ed Walton. We became friends. And, honestly, I felt they’ve had a few good years in basketball, but it’s been hard to be consistent.”
Providence Day coach Brian Field, who played for Carrier in middle school at Providence Day and later was a varsity assistant under Carrier, thinks Country Day hired a gem.
“Country Day is getting a passionate coach that loves the game and loves his players and has a wonderful ability to get them to play as hard as they can,” said Field, whose teams have been nationally ranked in four of the past six seasons. “They’re getting a great leader, who really leads by example and has incredible life values that he’s going to lead with, and I think he’ll turn them around. It’s a program that he’ll get going in the right direction.”
Field and Carrier call each other “brothers,” and have already made a pact that no matter how big the rivalry between their schools get, they will always hug in the postgame handshake line and tell each other, “I love you.”
“If this was 15 years ago, it would’ve been awkward,” Field said. “Both of us have matured and gotten comfortable with who we are as coaches. Our friendship is more important than a basketball game.”
For now, Carrier said he’s more concerned with reworking Country Day from the inside-out instead of worrying about rival teams.
He’ll start in July as basketball program head and athletic facility and operations manager. He’ll work to develop the Bucs’ middle school players, and he said he’ll coach at Country Day the way he always has.
“It comes down to kids who believe in being unselfish and have the desire to compete with anybody,” Carrier said. “If we get in there and we go to work every day, and the kids know, ‘Hey man, coach Carrier loves me and he’s here for me, not just in basketball but forever,’ that stuff goes a long way to helping you. I can’t start barking orders and expect them to listen.
“Country Day has made a commitment to me that they believe their basketball program can reach great heights and develop a sense of pride for the whole school. I believe I can do it. I’m 55 but a lot of the best coaches in America are older than me. My enthusiasm is through the roof. I’m ready to get in there and get going, one workout at a time.”
