BY RONNIE GALLAGHER
SALISBURY POST

MOORESVILLE— If you want to talk to Mike Carter, you’d better get to Mooresville High School first thing in the morning — before the needy reach him.

There are plenty of needy people at Mooresville High School and Carter has proven over the past 13 years that he will try his best to fulfill every single wish.

He simply considers it giving back to a town he loves, a town that has made him — whether he likes it or not — one of the most familiar faces there.

Here’s a quick quiz. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Mooresville?

What-a-burger? Whitey Meadows cutting hair? Race shops? Lake Norman?

Nope. It’s football. And football is what Mike Carter gave this town when it needed something to rally around.

n

Fourteen years ago, Carter was the head coach at Davie County, which stumbled its way through a 3-7 season.

Then, Mooresville called. Carter was the man school officials thought could turn around a floundering program.

It would become Carter’s third school, following Davie and Salisbury.

“I never intended to leave any of those places,” Carter says, “but this was such an attractive offer, I couldn’t turn it down.”

Carter would get to coach ninth-graders, which is something he couldn’t do at Davie. He would also be the athletic director for the entire school system, which meant he could hire the coaches at every level to make sure his terminology was used, something else he didn’t have at Davie.

That terminology: the wishbone.

n

At first, the Mooresville faithful kinda stared at him. The wishbone? A triple option? If that didn’t bowl them over, this did. Carter was going to two-platoon, which seemed absolutely nutty, considering this losing program had only 25 bodies on varsity and 23 on jayvee.

“A lot of coaches miss the boat,” Carter explains. “They think you must have the numbers to two-platoon but it’s the exact opposite. You two-platoon to get the numbers. If you provide that opportunity, they will come.”

Mooresville actually went 8-2 in his first season, a stunning turnaround. It almost didn’t matter to the fans that the Blue Devils lost in the first round of the playoffs. There was a new way of life for boys in Mooresville.

“Everybody got real excited,” Carter said. “They hadn’t done that in a while.”

n

The roster doubled the second year. Currently, 125 young men are playing high school football in Mooresville.

The middle schools have 100 playing. In little league, there are six teams, several of which needed special permission to have more than the limit of 40 players.

All told, there are 375 kids playing football.

“We just had a change of attitude when Mike came here,” said offensive coordinator Barclay Marsh, whose son will quarterback the Blue Devils tonight against South Rowan.

Marsh remembers the very first meeting Carter had his with his assistants.

“He talked about loyalty,” said the 17-year veteran of Mooresville, who easily recalls the losing. “Not only did he bring the system, he got everybody to buy into it.”

n

Especially the fans. On Friday nights, the spacious, extravagant Mooresville Stadium is packed with 5,000-plus bodies. Carter’s team has given the town an identity — and a reason to proudly wear blue.

A man parachutes into the stadium to rev up the throng. And the roars remain until the final horn.

“In our town, it’s a community event,” Carter said. It’s fun to have support like this.”

n

You want support? Carter points toward the large field house, a structure that cost $300,000. The money was raised in two to three months. Another long-time fan donated $100,000 to the program so Carter could annually help a player with his college funds.

“Mike’s a unique individual,” Marsh said. “He gives more than he gets. You’ll never hear him say ‘I did this.’ It’s always ‘we.’

“Mike Carter has made Mooresville’s athletic program — and not just football — one of the best in the state through tireless effort. He takes a great deal of pride in what goes on.”

n

Wednesday was an average day for Mike Carter. He got to school about 6:20 a.m. He got home 15 hours later.

In between was a trip to Wilkesboro for a Region 7 meeting, which took up most of the school day. As soon as he got out of his car, he was fretting.

“We’ve got practice in 30 minutes,” he noted. “I haven’t checked the schedule. I’ve probably got 100 messages on my desk.”

Actually, it was nine. But there was also an odd-looking contraption sitting on the desktop.

“An irrigation head,” Carter mused. “That looks like trouble.”

But he is a 28-year veteran of these nuances. So he shrugged, rolled up his sleeves, so to speak, and went at it. His workload? “I average 96 hours a week,” he said.

n

The assistants, who he calls good friends, are really considered associate head coaches. The wives are important to the football family, too. A group of perhaps 15 come to the games and sit together.

They’re simply following the loyalty plan that Carter set in place more than a decade ago. Wife Betty, a retired teacher, is as loyal as they come.

“She’s gotten used to me eating supper in my office,” Carter chuckled. “I’ve called her at six and said I need two more hours before I get home.”

With a sheepish grin, he said, “I did it to her last night.”

And with that, the 53-year-old Carter bounded up from his chair.

He looked fresh, but of course, he was only into the 10th hour of his workday. There were at least five, maybe six additional hours left before calling it quits.

After all, somebody out there will probably need Mike Carter, and he’s going to make sure he’s there.

n

Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .