EDDIE McCARTER            Head Coach
Third Season

UAB, 1975 

Eddie McCarter enters his third season in charge of the Tiger men’s basketball program. In two seasons, McCarter has guided UWA to 23 wins and a berth in the Gulf South Conference Tournament in 2008-09. The trip to the GSC Tournament was UWA’s first since the 1997-98 campaign. With UWA’s appearance in the GSC post season, it marked the second-straight time that McCarter has led his troops into postseason play in just two seasons at the helm. As the head coach at the University of Texas at Arlington, McCarter orchestrated the Mavericks into the Southland Conference Tournament during the 1993-94 campaign.

The Tigers downed in-state rivals North Alabama and Montevallo along with posting a home win over West Florida to secure their spot in the Southaven, Miss-hosted event. UWA finished fourth in the GSC East with a 5-7 mark.

McCarter reached a coaching milestone in 2008-09, as he surpassed the 200-career wins plateau. With UWA’s 76-74 win over UNA on Feb. 14 was McCarter’s 200th career win. The Birmingham, Ala-native enters his 17th year of college head coaching with a 202-243 overall mark.

As with any McCarter coached club, rebounding takes precedent. UWA paced the GSC in rebounding margin with a +7.4 clip on the boards last season. The Red and White finished the year ranked 13th in the NCAA in rebounding margin. UWA out-rebounded the opposition in 22 of the 28 games in 2008-09. Junior Jason Swanson, who led UWA in rebounding, earned First Team All-GSC East honors a season ago. Swanson became the first UWA player to earn GSC accolades since 2005-06. Swanson led the Tigers in scoring with a 15.5 scoring average.

McCarter, a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, was recently named to the NABC Division II Congress as the GSC East representative.

In 2007-08, UWA finished the campaign on a high note, winning five of it’s last nine contests to finished 10-17 and a game short of making the conference tournament. Three of the five wins down the stretch came on the road in the GSC - at Montevallo, West Georgia and West Florida. The 73-62 win over UM was the first Red and White win over the Falcons since the 2005-06 season.

UWA finished in the top half of the league in five statistical categories - three point field goal percentage (2nd - .315), field goal percentage defense (5th - .428), steals (5th - 219/8.11 per game), defensive rebounds (5th - 688/25.48 per game), blocked shots (6th - 91/3.37 per game).

McCarter, a Birmingham, Ala. native, brings more than 31 years of coaching experience to UWA after serving as an assistant coach under Mike Davis at his alma mater, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, for one season.

Prior to his stint at UAB, McCarter served as a head coach at the University of Texas at Arlington for 14 seasons, where he is the all-time winningest coach in Mavericks history. He posted double-digit wins in 13 of 14 seasons at the helm at UTA. While at UTA, he recorded the second most wins in Southland Conference history with 179 and led the Mavs to the 2004 Southland Conference regular season championship. UTA finished with an impressive 17-12 mark in 2003-04 along with posting 11 Southland Conference wins. McCarter’s 2002-03 squad turned in a 13-5 conference mark and a third-place finish in the league.

Under his direction, players at UTA received numerous academic honors, including three Mav players earning positions on a five-man SLC All-Academic team in 2003 and GTE Academic All-Americans in 1997 and 1998.

Before his long career began at UTA, McCarter served as an assistant at Howard College in Texas for two years after a stint as the head coach at Charles Henderson High School in Troy Ala. for nine seasons.

While at CHHS, McCarter led the Trojans to the State Playoffs three times, including the Final Eight during the 1985-86 season and was Runner-up in 1986-87. McCarter was named South Alabama Coach of the Year five times while at Charles Henderson and accumulated 188-74 record at the school.

McCarter began his coaching career in 1976 at Fairfield High High School in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala.

McCarter, who earned a bachelor’s degree in 1975 from UAB, is married the former Alvera Green.