16 Dec Coach Carter Returns to Lead Richmond High After More Than 20 Years

Richmond High Oilers head coach Ken Carter revels in his first game back coaching where he is most familiar.

Story and photos by Joe Porrello

Following more than two decades, Ken “Coach” Carter has returned to Richmond High to lead the boys varsity basketball team. The Oilers lost his first game back, but the coach and his players have hope that his presence will turn things around for the struggling team.

He was portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the 2005 film “Coach Carter,” which highlights his first stint as Oilers head coach.

Grossing $230 million at domestic box offices, the movie depicts the coach’s tough love tactics.

With only half of the Richmond High freshman class expected to graduate in 1999, Carter created a contract for his players requiring them maintain at least a 2.3 GPA and attend all classes while sitting in the front row — with a tie and jacket on game day.

When they didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, the undefeated team was locked out of the gym by Carter and forced to forfeit two games.

His methods resulted in every player he coached from 1997-2002 graduating from high school and all 15 from the 1999 team attending college. Then-California Gov. Gray Davis came to watch the Oilers play and reportedly called Carter a “hero.”

“It’s absolutely awesome,” he said. “I just truly love this school; it gave me my identity back when I graduated in 1977.”

Before taking over as head coach, Carter was the school’s all-time leader in scoring, assists and steals.

He has not slowed down since.

Carter coached the Los Angeles Rumble Slam Ball team in 2002, 2003 and 2008. His team went a combined 25-6 and won a championship.

He carried the Olympic torch during the 2002 Salt Lake City winter games, became a motivational speaker, and founded the Coach Ken Carter Foundation to focus on improving the lives of minority students through mentoring.

He is also a graduate of San Francisco State University and Contra Costa College, the author of three books, and the owner of Prime Time Publishing and Prime Time Sports, which offers sports marketing services.

In 2009, he founded the Coach Carter Impact Academy in Texas which has students grades 8-12 in school from 6 a.m.-6 p.m., while also doing their own chores like laundry and cooking as well as running their own barber shop. Carter was the dean and headmaster of CCIA before moving back to the Bay Area this month.

The last time he made a public appearance at Richmond High came in 2018 when speaking with students. Carter was at the school again on Thursday — but this time for his first game back as the Oilers head basketball coach.

 

His team took on Envision Academy of Oakland, which won 61-25 despite having only one substitute; two of the just eight players on their roster are out with injury.

Outsized, Richmond High was heavily outrebounded and came out very far on the wrong end of turnover margins.

 

Carter said he approved of his team’s hustle but highlighted their inability to work through the opponent’s defensive full court press.

Down seven points halfway through the opening quarter, the Oilers could not gain any traction on offense and went into the first intermission behind 20-4. Those four points all came from forward Ron Garcia, while Envision Academy sophomore forward Chuka Achinulo led with nine.

 

In the second stanza, Carter’s team shot six free throws — one off their total of seven attempts for the game; Envision Academy had triple the charity stripe chances with 21 combined, 11 from Achinulo alone.

That same quarter, Richmond High guard Keyden Washington made his squad’s only three-pointer for the matchup — their opponent made five shots from beyond the arc.

Envision Academy would not take their foot off the gas, ahead 31 going into the final frame and winning by 36.

 

With the Oilers losing by an average of 49 points last season, Carter is happy with the slight improvement he saw.

“I knew we weren’t going to lose by 50,” he said. “This team was much stronger than probably any team we’ll play in our league, so we’ll be competitive.”

Two underclassmen led the way for Envision Academy, with Achinulo netting a game-high 20 points and freshman guard Irvelle Winchester adding 15.

 

The Oilers are now 0-4 after forfeiting their first pair of games due to being coachless with Carter still in the process of moving, then losing to Envision Academy on Dec. 2 with an interim coach.

Richmond High has lost four straight over the last decade to Envision Academy, who sits at 3-4 overall and again plays in Richmond for their next game facing 1-3 De Anza High.

 

After having only two days of practice with their new coach, Oilers sophomore forward Matthew Hernandez says he has high hopes for the season’s remainder once chemistry and preparation increase.

“We’re a better team than we were last year,” he said. “If (Carter) pushes us and trains us even harder than he did in the movies, I think morale will be really high.”

Carter says nobody on the Oilers has played organized basketball before, so they’re poised to continuously improve.

In their previous season, Richmond High finished 1-21 overall, last in the Tri-County Stone League, 152 of 164 in the North Coast Section, 245 of 263 in California Division 4, and 1,302 out of 1,479 statewide.

Carter is not letting a less than ideal start dampen his spirits.

“Just being back and building relationships with the kids, I’m happy as can be,” he said.

 

Similarly to when he took over the first time, the Oilers coach inherits a team that has struggled mightily — having one overall winning season the last 16 years and a 2-41 record in league play since 2019.

One of six former Richmond High players at the game who were under Carter’s tutelage, Henry Lincoln, says he still remembers the coach walking into their gym in 1983 and not knowing who he was.

“(Carter) did a lot for me over the years after that,” Lincoln said. “He’s still my mentor.”

Lasting 20 years his first stint, Carter’s presence may provide stability to a team that has had seven head coaches in as many seasons.

After a long break, the Oilers will try to earn their first win in over a year when they begin league play against the 3-1 El Cerrito High on Jan. 7.