By Tyler Komis / Journalism Student
Keith Carter spoke about his time as a former student-athlete and about currently being the Athletics Director at the University of Mississippi in the second in a series of Overby Center for Sports Journalism sessions last Friday.
Carter attended Ole Miss from 1995 through 1999 and was a prominent player for Ole Miss’ basketball program, earning a second-team All-SEC selection in 1998 and first-team All-SEC selection in 1999.
During Carter’s senior year, the basketball team reached the NCAA tournament and beat Villanova for the school’s first March Madness win in program history in a Regional in Milwaukee. Carter, during the session moderated by sports journalist Jeff Roberson, was asked to reminisce about that game and what he remembers most about that time period.
“It’s always fun being a part of the first,” Carter said of the Rebels’ victory.”That was our third year in a row in the (NCAA) tournament, but it was the first win for Ole Miss in the tournament, which was pretty cool. Then two years later, with some leaders on the team in 2001 that were young when I was a senior, they went to the Sweet Sixteen which was another first. That era for me, I’ve got a lot of pride in what happened during that time in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. It kind of put Ole Miss basketball on the map.”
Carter, a Perryville, Ark., native, talked some about not being recruited by his homestate school, the University of Arkansas, and Ole Miss giving him an opportunity.
After his college years, Carter entered the NBA draft but would end up going undrafted. Carter never reached the NBA but did manage to enjoy a 10-year professional career overseas from 1999-2008 that saw him play for nine different organizations.
Then he would once again join Ole Miss, but this time to work at his alma mater, first as Director of the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, and later serving as interim AD when Ross Bjork left for Texas A&M. He was named fulltime Athletics Director in November, 2019.
His first move just weeks into the job was to replace longtime friend and head football coach, Matt Luke, who he felt he had to let go in order to improve the direction of the program. In just a few days he had secured current head football coach Lane Kiffin, who was the head coach at Florida Atlantic.
Carter discussed some of the future plans for Ole Miss athletics. According to Carter, college athletes attending Ole Miss (or schools in Mississippi) will be able to profit from their name and likeness as soon as this summer, which has become a sensitive topic over the years.
“I think we’re going to end up in a happy place, in a good place in the middle,” he said of the NIL situation. “It’s inevitable that it’s going to happen and I think it’s the right thing to do because I think student athletes should have the same opportunities to grow their brand and make money just like the normal students.
“It’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Our legislation goes into effect July 1st. The hope is that there is a national solution by the end, so that all 50 states are playing with the same rule books. Instead of Mississippi having one rule book, Louisiana having one, and Alabama having one because then all of sudden you’ve got a lot of different things going on.”
Mississippi became the second state in the nation to pass legislation, joining Florida. The Mississippi bill, which goes into effect on July 1, states that student athletes at institutions in Mississippi are legally able to profit off their name and likeness.
The schools won’t be paying the athletes because the NCAA doesn’t allow for that currently. There is also the fact that most schools don’t have enough resources to pay every single student-athlete individually. The state will allow players to profit off themselves if offered by third parties.
