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Do they get the point?

Carter: Yes, they get the point. They do the math real quick.

I would always "give" our guys a hundred thousand dollars at the beginning of the season. I'd say, "To keep your hundred thousand dollars, you've got to make fifty-two dollars an hour. So if you goof off for an hour, it just cost you fifty-two dollars." So you just get them to thinking. I believe if you see it, you can be it. That's why I took the kids out of the community every chance I got.

Why did you raise the minimum GPA from the required 2.0 average to 2.3?

Carter: Some of our kids on the team had a 4.0; my son had a 3.7. But you win as a team or you lose as a team. And the kids who had excellent grades were not tutoring the kids who didn't have good grades. So we were trying to use positive peer pressure instead of negative peer pressure.

So did the good students end up tutoring the struggling ones?

Carter: Yes. And you know what? We made the library a cool place to be. That was a miracle within itself.

The film implies that you got almost no support from anybody-not parents, not the community, not even your fellow teachers or the principal. Was that an accurate portrayal, that you were pretty much standing alone?

Carter: Yes. But think about it: The principal had to take care of fifteen hundred people in that school. I had to take care of forty-five in my program. So there were never any issues with our principal. But the community hated me. I was loved on Friday and hated by Monday. It was interesting that everybody outside of our community applauded my decision, but everybody within the community was saying Let these boys play. This is the greatest thing in their lives. I was going, "That's the problem. If this is going to be the greatest thing in their lives, we really have a problem."

Did you ever think about caving into the pressure? Did you ever think, Man, this just isn't worth it, maybe I ought to back off? Did that thought ever cross your mind?

Carter with one of his high school teams

Carter: Yes it did. I would fear for my safety and my family's safety. But what really validated the situation was this: I received a letter from a retired school teacher in Kansas, a lady in her mid-80s, and she sent me a dollar and a half. She said, "I'm on a fixed income. This is all I have. I would like to give you this for the boys. Stick to your guns." That validated me and I was ready to go.

Did you get any threats?

Carter: Yes, sir, on occasion. I don't know how serious they were, but anytime somebody threatened you, you'd have to take it seriously. But I'm a pretty tough guy, honestly. I wasn't going to let anybody just intimidate me.

Were there actually any death threats?

Carter: No, no. It didn't get that serious.

Anything where you had to call the police?

Carter: No, I just didn't let it get to that point. People knew they could always find me. People would constantly walk up to me and cuss me out. And there was that guy who spit on my window in the car.

Just like it happened in the movie?

Carter: Yes. And I got out of the car and started yelling at him.

And your son, Damian, had to calm you down?

Carter: Yeah. I was on the edge, you know what I mean? You don't go spitting on people.

The film portrays you as a great role model, but Samuel Jackson also uses some choice language when talking to the kids. Did you sometimes use four-letter words with your players?

Carter: Yes I did. Because you have to learn how to communicate with them. See, if the kids believe in the messenger, they'll believe and receive the message. See, this is the thing: Education was always my goal. I just used basketball as the hook.

In the film, one particular kid keeps getting into trouble. You kept asking him, "What is it you fear?" What was that all about?

Carter when he played at Richmond High

Carter: The reason I asked him this is because eighty percent of our self-talk every day is negative. I knew he was fighting the streets and trying to stay in school. I understood that. But I can't feel sorry for him and give him a break. I was harder on him than anybody else because that's what he understood. He was so mentally tough, with him if you give him an inch, he'll try to take a mile. So you have to be just consistent with the kids.

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Coach Carter	Printer view