Carter Crowder (Balloon Ball Coach)

## Carter Crowder

Chowder in 2019.

Carter Crowder is the head coach of the Centenary College of Louisiana's men's balloon ball team. He formerly served as the college's head coach from 1980-1985. In between his tenures at the school, he served as an assistant coach at a variety of schools, where he garnered a reputation as one of the best assistants in the country, winning a variety of awards.

## Life

Crowder was born in Harts, West Virginia on February 19, 1936. He was the youngest of 10 children. Crowder attended college at the Centenary College of Louisiana, where he majored in Mathematics. Crowder found a job at nearby C.E. Byrd High School, as a high school math teacher. In 1963, he began to coach a student balloon ball league at the local YMCA. Here, he drew the attention of Tulane University's head balloon ball coach. The Tulane program had fallen into rough times, and was desperately in need of a new Assistant Offensive Coach. Crowder was hired. He was not able to survive off only the money from the Tulane program, so he also took a job as a High School Math teacher at New Orleans' Jesuit High School. Crowder served as the assistant offensive coach at Tulane until 1965, studying the game extensively, and gradually improving his strategy. In 1965, he left Tulane to become the offensive coach and Assistant head coach of the New Orleans Privateers Balloon Ball Team on the Division 2 level. He remained there until 1968, when he was abruptly let go for unknown reason. In 1968, he departed New Orleans and returned to Tulane to become the Assistant Offensive Coach at Tulane once again. He left Tulane to become the Offensive Coach at McNeese State University on the Division 2 level in 1970. He prospered at McNeese State. He stayed there until 1972. In 1971, he was awarded the Division 2 Men's Balloon Ball Assistant Coach of the Year Award. After leaving McNeese, he was hired as the offensive coach at the University of Houston. Subsequently, he left his position as a High School Math Teacher in New Orleans, and was hired as an assistant Mathematics Professor at the University of Houston. At Houston, he pioneered the Back-to-back type offensive strategy, which brought the program great success. In 1978, he was awarded the Hayward Award for Best Assistant Coach at the Division 1 level. That same year, Houston won the national championship. By 1980, the Back-to-back strategy had began to spread like wildfire, and would prove to be one of the most widespread offenses in the 80s. In 1980, he would accept the job as head coach at his alma mater, the Centenary College of Louisiana, which had just began a Division 1 Balloon Ball program. Crowder would implement the same style offense as he had at Houston at Centenary, but would find limited success. He would resign from the program in 1985, with a losing record. After his resignation, he would continue to study the sport, gradually improving his strategies. In 1987, he would accept the job as the Offensive Coach and Assistant Head Coach at the University of South Alabama. While there, he was also employed as a special administrator within the college's athletic department. At South Alabama, alongside the university's head coach, Crowder would implement a very innovative style of offensive that would be a hybrid of several different styles, fooling all defenses they faced. In 1994, he would once again win the award for best Assistant Coach of the Year. In 1995, South Alabama would win the national title. In 1996, he left South Alabama to become the Offensive Coach at Louisiana State University, where he would implement the same style offense. The offense would find large amounts of success once again. He would remain the Offensive Coach there until 2017, when he left to become the head coach at his alma mater, the Centenary College of Louisiana once again. He has found much more success there then during his previous tenure, leading the college to the Division 3 Elite 8 in 2020.

 1965-1968
 1969
 1970-1971
 1972-1979
 1980-1985
 1987-1996
 1997-2017
 2017-Pres

Crowder has been married to Melissa Crowder since 1959. They have had 5 children together, Carter Jr., Tom, Evan, Princess, and Franklin. Evan is currently the assistant LB coach for the Idaho State Bengals Football team. Carter Jr. is the offensive coach for his father's team at Centenary College. Princess an assistant coach for the Tulane Green Wave Woman's Basketball team. Franklin is the head coach of Captain Shreve High School's Football team. Tom works as a news anchor for CBS KZTV in Corpus Christi, Texas. Crowder and his wife live in Lake View, Louisiana, a suburb of Shreveport.

Crowder's grand son, Carter Crowder III, the son of Carter Jr. is the head coach of the Texas State Men's Balloon Ball team. Andy Crowder, the son of Evan, played under his grandfather at South Alabama from 2003-2006, and was a 3rd team All-American Selection while there. Andy Crowder played for the Phoenix Grand in the Professional Balloon Ball Association from 2007-2015, and is now the assistant Offensive coach for the Grand Canyon University Men's Balloon Ball team.

## Coaching Tree

### Coached Under:

Jim Magalia (South Alabama, 1987-1996)

Anaconda Smith (LSU, 1997-2003)