Darius Carter is entering his third season as an assistant coach with the Coastal Carolina women's basketball squad in 2025.
His second season saw the Chants put together to their most successful season in five years by going 23-9 and 12-6 in Sun Belt Conference play in 2024-25. The season marked the third time in recent history that Coastal had won 20 or more games and ranked as the second-most wins in a season in program history. The Chants also reached the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals for the first time ever, while making their first appearance in the WNIT.
The 2024-25 squad set program-records for most points in a season with 2,379, most made three-pointers in a season with 240, and also led the Sun Belt Conference with 20.3 turnovers forced per game and +9.6 scoring margin.
Carter arrives in Conway, S.C., after spending the previous two seasons at Lander University working with the Bearcats men's basketball team. He served as the defensive coordinator for Lander and was named the associate head coach prior to the start of his second season in 2022-23.
"Coach Carter is a tremendous addition to our coaching staff! First and foremost, he is just a great person and somebody that our student athletes will enjoy working alongside each day. Second, he is an up and coming star in this business that brings a wealth of knowledge to our program," said Pederson. "His experience as an elite basketball player, coupled with his ability to develop a team defense will bring great value to our team. Coach Carter has also worked for a couple of outstanding offensive coaches and I look forward to seeing what improvements he can helps us make to our system."
Before arriving in Greenwood, S.C., Carter had stints at Southern Wesleyan and Northern Arizona. During his time at Southern Wesleyan, he facilitated recruiting, player development, and opponent scouting while also acting as the head coach for the junior varsity team. While with the Warriors, Carter helped to turn around a program that had just two wins in 2018-19 into a squad that captured 20 wins in the 2019-20 season. That turnaround was the largest in the country.
He helped coordinate a top-five defense in the Conference Carolinas along with the 14th-best three-point field goal defense in the nation. The 2019-20 Southern Wesleyan team claimed the Conference Carolinas Tournament Title, recorded the highest regional ranking in school history, and posted the first-ever win over a NCAA Division I program in school history.
At Northern Arizona, Carter was the recruiting coordinator and director of scouting during his three years in Flagstaff, Ariz. While at Northern Arizona, Carter earned his master's degree in educational leadership with an emphasis in higher education.
As a player, Carter attended Tusculum University where he was named a team captain and the team MVP while also earning all-conference honors his junior and senior seasons. As a junior in 2013-14, Carter led his team in scoring (16.0 ppg), assists (2.9 apg), and steals (1.4 spg). He also recorded a career-high 39 points in a game during the season. In 2015-16, Carter was the only player to start all 29 games and ranked first on the team in scoring (17.5 ppg), second in assists (3.4 apg), and second in steals (1.3 spg). He also led the Pioneers to two wins against teams ranked in the top 15.
Carter's name remains prominent in the Pioneers' record books, aside from being Tusculum's all-time leader in free throws made and attempted, he also ranks 12th in scoring with 1,338 career points and fifth in steals with 135 career steals.
He graduated from Tusculum University in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in sport management.
