Head Coach Kira Carter

Kira Carter
Head Women's Basketball Coach

Kira Carter enters her fourth season at the helm of the women's basketball team at S&T in 2023-24 after leading the Miners to their first season above the .500 mark in a decade and second straight appearance in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

In the 2022-23 season, the Miners finished at 15-14 overall and 11-9 in the GLVC, finishing over .500 for the first time since the 2012-13 season.  Missouri S&T used a four-game winning streak in February to help secure its tournament berth in a season that concluded with Alex Kerr and Laura Rodriguez -- both named to the All-GLVC team -- finishing as the top two scorers in program history.

In year two of the Carter Era, the Miners saw a seven-win improvement from 2020-21 and won their highest amount of overall and conference games since the 2012-13 season. S&T also hosted the league leader in blocks in Katelynne Roberts (38) and saw two repeat All-GLVC selections in Kerr and Rodriguez, who were both named to the league's second team. The Miners ranked in the top 10 in the GLVC in field goal percentage (.418), three-point field goal percentage (.321), steals (204), assists (354), and third in the league in blocked shots with 90. Kerr and Rodriguez also ranked in the top 15 in the league in scoring average while Kerr was again among the top five in rebounding average and blocks. Marta Durk was also among the league leaders in assists and was among the top five in steals.

In her first season as head coach of the Miners in the midst of the COVID-19 health situation, Carter coached a team that improved their point margin, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds per game, and steals per game from the previous season while ranking in the top-five in the GLVC in blocked shots, field goal percentage, defensive rebounds, and three-point field goal percentage. She also saw Kerr and Rodriguez named to the All-GLVC Third Team after both of them found themselves in the top-15 in the conference in multiple categories.

During her two seasons on the staff at Sam Houston State, Carter helped lead that program to a 35-23 overall record and 25-13 mark in the Southland Conference, with its 2019-20 records of 19-10 and 14-6 in the Southland marking the most single-season and conference wins for the program as a member of NCAA Division I.  Two members of that team earned all-conference honors and a third player was named as the Southland’s Newcomer of the Year.

In the 2018-19 season, Carter’s first on the SHSU staff, the Bearkats improved from a four-win team to one that captured 16 victories; the 12-win improvement was the third-best in the nation during that season and best nationally by a first-year coaching staff.  The Bearkats had three all-conference performers and also had the Southland’s Newcomer of the Year in that season as well, while the team’s head coach, Ravon Justice, was the Southland’s Coach of the Year.

Carter’s work on the sidelines has also earned her some national recognition, as in the spring of 2020 she was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s 30 Under 30 list.

During the 2017-18 season at Milwaukee, Carter was part of a coaching staff that led the team to a 21-12 record and a berth in the National Invitation Tournament.  The Panthers’ 21st victory that season, over Northern Iowa, was its first win ever in a WNIT contest.  Two members of that Panther squad were selected to the Horizon League’s all-conference team at the end of the season.

In her two stops at the Division I level, Carter has held numerous responsibilities within those programs, including player development, scouting, recruiting, social media work within the program and handling the team’s community service projects.  While at Milwaukee, she also served as the strength and conditioning liaison.

When Carter was at Missouri S&T during the 2016-17 season, the Miners improved their record from the previous year during that season.  She was the lone assistant on the staff and was responsible for all scouting, film work and game planning, as well as travel arrangements. She also assisted in recruiting, player development and practice planning and budgetary decisions.

Carter, who is from Indianapolis, began her collegiate playing career at Oakland University and appeared in 28 games in her freshman season before transferring to Wabash Valley College.  She earned first-team all-conference and all-region honors during the 2009-10 season at Wabash Valley and then went on to finish her collegiate career at Coastal Carolina University.

At Coastal Carolina, she played in 55 games over two seasons and averaged 5.6 points and dished out 79 assists during that span.  Carter went on to play professionally for one season with BK Lokomotiva Karlovy Vary in the first division Czech Republic League.

Carter began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Thomas College for one season before returning to Wabash Valley; the Warriors advanced to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen in the 2014-15 season and had five players that she coached that went on to play at collegiately at the Division I or Division II levels.  The team went 55-12 during those two seasons with three all-conference players and a first-team All-America selection.

Carter received her bachelor’s degree in marketing from Coastal Carolina in 2012 and her master’s degree in sports leadership from Duquesne University in 2015.