Carter Wilson knows Decatur High School better than just about anyone. The longtime coach and athletic director at one of Georgia’s oldest schools, Wilson looks at his role at Class 2A Decatur as much more than just a job.
“For me, this is home,” Wilson says. “I grew up here in Decatur and went to Decatur High School.”
Home, as it turns out, has been undergoing some drastic changes as of late. Decatur is a school that is closely tied into its surrounding community, blending in seamlessly with the small-city atmosphere. But several years ago, in looking at the athletic facilities that had been on campus for many decades, it was clear the school district had to move into the new millennium.
“It was a very emotional time for us because the stadium had been in use since [the 40s], the gym had been in use since the 30s, and there was a lot of emotional attachment from a lot of people. Decatur isn’t one of those schools that’s just a few years old, we have well over 100 years of history here.
“When we actually made the decision to tear down the stadium, it was made strictly because we had looked at all the angles and there was no way we could renovate the stadium and have it guaranteed for more than five years before we would have to go back and do work again.”
Not without controversy, Wilson led the charge to replace the outdated facilities on Decatur’s campus in an effort to get up to speed with the schools it competed with year in and year out: Buford, Greater Atlanta Christian, Blessed Trinity and the like.
“Having new facilities on campus has given all of our sports a shot in the arm,” Wilson says. “To the outsider, they can say, ‘Well, having a new gymnasium is going to make you have a better basketball program?’ Well, no, not that in itself. But what it’s done is it’s eliminated a lot of those negatives, all of those reasons why coaches can’t do what they need to do or players can’t do what they need to do.”
The new football stadium, which has been in use for two seasons and replaces the old Decatur Stadium, seats approximately 4,000 and has brand new synthetic turf. The basketball gym seats 2,600 and sports a scoreboard suspended from the roof at midcourt. New weight training facilities and many other new developments have helped to completely overhaul the athletics program on Decatur’s campus. Wilson knows the sacrifice — both financial and emotional — was completely necessary.
“We felt as a school district it was our obligation to make sure the kids have everything that they possibly need, the same way that we would make sure that the kids got everything in a science class or a math class,” he says. “So we did that for athletics, and now teams are able to put in the required amount of work on the practice field or the practice floor, and we see it making a difference.”
THE COACHING LIFE …
The first time Wilson roamed Decatur’s campus as a coach was in 1979, when he became an assistant basketball coach. As an assistant, Wilson was part of two state championship teams at Decatur, viewed as a state powerhouse. He was named the head boys coach in 1983 for his first stint at that position, leading the Bulldogs program to three years of success before entering the world of college coaching.
After serving as an assistant at Georgia State from 1985-94, Wilson earned his chance at the Panthers’ head coaching gig, staying on in that capacity for three years.
But after his time as a Division I basketball coach was up, Wilson decided to return to his roots, high school coaching, settling down as Tucker’s head boys coach for three more years. But the allure of his alma mater was too strong, and in 2000 Wilson came on as head boys coach and athletic director at Decatur, which he considers to be one of the top environments anywhere in high school athletics.
“If you’re going to work in a high school setting, this is the greatest place in America to work,” Wilson claims. “It’s a small setting where you can get all the way to the top, if you need to, to have questions answered. And it’s a very hands-on place. If you’re one of those coaches who doesn’t like to communicate and have conversations with parents in the community, it’s probably not quite the place for you.
“On Friday nights, whether it’s a football game or a basketball game, people come down from the square. The mayor is here, the city commissioner is here. It’s a special place because the success of Decatur High School is important to more than just the kids at Decatur High School, it’s important to the entire community.”
But while his coaching career at DHS has spanned over parts of four decades, Wilson will be stepping down as head boys basketball coach after the season in order to focus on his duties as athletic director and as president of the Georgia Athletic Directors Association, an organization he first became involved with in the early 2000s. Though he sees it as a necessary step in order to continue to move Decatur athletics forward, it will be difficult to exit the world of clipboards and after-school practices.
“I’ve had a wonderful run here as the head basketball coach here at Decatur High School,” Wilson says. “It’s a very emotional time for me personally, but we’re trying to win as many games as we can and finish the season up on a high note.”
As of Feb. 10, his team’s prospects looked good for a run in the postseason. At 19-3 and ranked No. 4 in Class 2A by the AJC, the Bulldogs exemplify the “defense first” philosophy of their head coach. And the girls program, which made the state playoffs for the first time in years last season, is having a solid campaign at 15-7 in one of the state’s toughest leagues, Region 6-AA.
Though after this season he won’t be strolling the sidelines of the new gym he was so instrumental in building, Wilson is eager to continue on as athletic director and as president of the GADA. Through it all, he’ll get to continue doing what he does best: moving athletics towards a brighter future at Decatur High School, and beyond.
Ewalt can be reached at aewalt@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
