DePaul University Athletics
Toughness, Discipline are Hallmarks of Carter's Coaching Style
5/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
CHICAGO -- New associate head coach Rick Carter has an interesting story about the first time he met DePaul head coach Dave Leitao.
Carter was coming off a successful four-year stint as an assistant coach at Western Michigan when he arrived in Columbia, Mo. to interview for the assistant's job at Missouri. He was met by Leitao, the Tigers' talented assistant coach.
"When I got there, it seemed like coach Leitao had someone else in mind for the job," Carter said. "I tried to break the ice and it didn't work.
"Finally, I asked Dave if we could have breakfast together on the day I was leaving. He said he would pick me up at 6 a.m. and we went to Panera Bread. It was during the course of that meal that I felt the barriers start coming down. It was a really good conversation, and by the end, I knew he was someone who genuinely cared about people and wanted to be a mentor for a young guy like me.
"That's exactly what happened at Missouri. Dave became a mentor to me, a father figure. When the offer to join Xavier's coaching staff came, Dave helped me decide to leave Missouri. We stayed in contact the whole time I was at Xavier.
"When Dave got the DePaul job, he called me about joining his staff. I saw this as a chance to build something special with a friend. People in Chicago are starving for a winner in college basketball."
Carter, 36, is exactly what the Blue Demons need---a relentless and seemingly tireless 110 percent work ethic kind of a guy who engenders trust through his genuine personality.
At Missouri (2012-13 season), Carter helped attract a nationally ranked recruiting class while helping develop standouts Phil Pressey and Alex Oriakhi.
He recruited 6-foot, 10-inch Matt Stainbrook to Western Michigan while on the Broncos' staff (2008-12) and was reunited with Stainbrook at Xavier (2013-15) where Carter helped put together a 2014 recruiting class that was ranked among the top 20 in the country and included 6-10 Sean O'Mara from Benet Academy. Carter was on Fairfield's coaching staff (2006-08) under Ed Cooley, now the head coach at Providence.
Carter didn't waste any time making an impact at DePaul.
"The good thing about our situation now is that every one of the players is equal," Carter said. "It's like we have a team full of freshmen. They all have to learn to do things the right way to become part of the foundation.
"The guys have been great. It's like they are craving discipline. My first day here, someone missed breakfast. It was the second day in a row that had happened. The rule is after the second time, the whole team gets up at 5:30 a.m. the next day and runs.
"There wasn't a single guy who had a problem with it. They want the direction and discipline, and we have to show them the way."
In Dave Leitao's world, defense is the guiding light.
"You develop toughness by making guys mentally and physically tired and having them work through that adversity as a group," Carter said. "We started out just working on defense. We have to get a lot better, and when that happens, offense becomes a lot easier.
"You can't be a nice guy and play good defense. You want your kids to have a little edge, an attitude, some meanness. The greatest thing in sports is hitting adversity and learning to push through as a group.
"My early impression is that we have a group of guys willing to do whatever it takes to change the culture. There has been no resistance and everybody is on board."
Carter brings an intriguing perspective with his transition from Cincinnati to Chicago. Just several months ago, he was meticulously studying Blue Demon game film and breaking down strengths, weaknesses and team characteristics.
So, what was the view from the Xavier bench?
"We felt that DePaul had as much individual talent as anybody in the BIG EAST," Carter said. "You didn't want to get into a game with them based on talent alone. We figured if we played their game, we couldn't beat them.
"But we could see that defensively, they didn't rely on one another. A lot of it was one-on-one. On offense, we wanted to take away the one-on-one matchups and make it a five-man game. The thinking was that in adverse situations, DePaul would come apart.
"When DePaul came to Xavier last season, they hit 11 three-pointers in the first half and led by as much as 13. At halftime, we told our guys to continue to play their game. We said that once we got back into the game and took the lead, they would go their separate ways."
The Blue Demons led 50-42 at halftime but were outscored 47-26 in the final 20 minutes in the 89-76 loss.
No doubt, Carter has a pretty good idea where to start.
"It starts with building a foundation," Carter said. "Every day, you emphasize discipline, push toughness and make the guys come together as a group to be close. Once the foundation is built, the older guys hand down this belief to the next group.
"The fix is cultural-based and takes place day-to-day at practice. You bring tough-minded people into the program that will be successful not only on the basketball court, but more importantly, in life.
"Ultimately, it's not just about how many championships you win. It's about how many kids you graduate and where they go from there."
Carter was born and raised in Grand Blanc, Mich. (near Flint) whose population of 8,144 is closely tied to the automotive industry. He said he wasn't the greatest athlete, but played football and basketball at Grand Blanc High School. Sidelined by an injury his senior year, Carter took on the role of an unofficial student coach.
"There have been a couple of defining moments in my life," Carter said. "Coming out of high school, I really wanted to go to Michigan. But they put me on a waiting list. The day before I moved into my dorm at Michigan State, I got a letter of acceptance from UM. But I stuck with Michigan State and that led to working on coach Tom Izzo's staff.
"The other one came when I was 19 years old and working as a volunteer coach on the high school basketball team. Michigan Mustangs AAU coach Norm Oden invited me to a workout where I met high school freshman standout Drew Neitzel, a future All-American at Michigan State.
"It was kind of a life-altering moment when I went to that workout instead of just hanging out with my friends."
Carter joined the Mustangs' coaching staff and worked with Neitzel and future Florida star Al Horford, who now plays for the Atlanta Hawks. While recruiting Neitzel, MSU's coaches got to know Carter and helped him land a graduate assistant position on Izzo's staff.
With the Mustangs, Carter wound up mentoring three Michigan "Mr. Basketball" award winners---Neitzel, Western Michigan's all-time leading scorer David Kool and former Xavier guard Brad Redford.
"We first met when I was in high school and he was my coach on the Mustangs," said Neitzel who is Michigan State's all-time leader in free throw percentage and among the leaders in assists and three-point shooting. "After he became a graduate assistant coach at Michigan State, he would make the 150-mile round trip drive from East Lansing to Grand Rapids a couple times a week to train me. I owe him a lot. He drove me around the country so I could attend different basketball camps in the summer. We've had a special bond for 15 years.
"We were reunited at Michigan State my first two years, and we spent a lot of time together training in the gym and hanging out. I like to think of Rick as my big brother."
Neitzel, who is a financial advisor in Grand Rapids after playing professionally for five seasons in Germany, France, Switzerland and China, can't wait to come watch Carter on the sidelines.
"As a coach, he has a relentless work ethic and just outworks everyone," Neitzel said. "Rick has terrific people skills and is able to cultivate solid relationships with a lot of people. It's not only with his peers, but also with the kids he is recruiting.
"He is a talented recruiter because of his personality---people want to be around him. He is a genuine person who relates to young people very well. When he talks to parents, there is a level of trust that is established very quickly.
"I know coach Leitao a little and he is a very smart guy. It was a great move to bring Rick onto his staff. He has recruited the Chicago area for a long time and is very familiar with Chicago and the entire Midwest."
Carter has brought along a little something from each of his coaching stops. From Tom Izzo at Michigan State, he learned work ethic and toughness.
"Ed Cooley at Fairfield taught me that relationships are the most important thing," Carter said. "Steve Hawkins at Western Michigan trusted me to do the budget, scouting, practice plans---all the things required of a head coach.
"Frank Haith at Missouri showed me how to delegate responsibilities and how to deal with the different personalities of the players. At Xavier, I learned about the organization of a program from Chris Mack. It was a philosophy that everything was done the `X way.'"
Carter is ready to make DePaul the darling of college basketball in Chicago.
"I grew up a huge Chicago Bulls fan and watched Michael Jordan before the team became great," Carter said. "They turned it around, and once they started winning NBA titles, you never saw anything like it. The Chicago Stadium and later the United Center became a very difficult place to play for road teams.
"Now, you've got the same thing with the Blackhawks. Everywhere you go on game days, there are bars full of screaming Hawks fans. We want to give Chicago fans a reason to go crazy for a college team. If you build it the right way, these fans will support you and go all-out."
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