Coach Carter

I like sports movies and I also like movies that are based on true stories. Since Coach Carter fits into both of those categories, it seemed like a good choice when I came across it at the video store. I promptly rented the DVD and sat down for a couple hours of what I hoped would be good entertainment.

The film opens with scenes from a basketball game between Richmond High School (one of the worst teams in California) and St. Francis (one of the best). The Richmond players look lost out on the court, and St. Francis easily beats them. After the game, the Richmond players get into arguments and scuffles with each other in the locker room as they try to pin the blame for their four-win season on each other. Looking on from coach's office is their old coach, who has decided to move on, and a man named Ken Carter (played by Samuel L. Jackson), a Richmond alum who has been offered the job for next season. Since the movie is called Coach Carter, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he does indeed accept the job.

On Carter's first day on the job, he immediately shows the team that things were going to be much different. He calls each player "sir," and expects them to do the same to him. He has a contract that the players must sign in order to keep playing on the team. The terms of the contract state that the boys must maintain a 2.3 grade point average, must attend class every day, must sit in the front row of those classes, must perform 10 hours of community service, and must wear a coat and tie on game days. His intent is to groom them into responsible young men so that they can go on to college or have other choices in their lives rather than settle for prison or the paycheck-to-paycheck existence that their parents lead. Some players walk out on the spot, while the others can hardly believe what they're hearing. Nevertheless, they sign the contract and start practicing.

Unlike before when the boys just played basketball during practice, Coach Carter first makes them do innumerable "suicide" sprints and pushups to get them into shape. They practice defense constantly, and hardly ever work on offensive sets or shooting. Coach Carter's system pays off dividends in the very first game of the season when the team comes from behind for an unexpected victory. Richmond just keeps on rolling up wins after that, and the team runs their record to 16-0 at one point. They're now the pride of the school and the community, and are generating lots of buzz in the state.

But the basketball season hits a snag when Coach Carter finally gets progress reports from the boys' teachers. Some of the athletes haven't been upholding the part of the contract relating to academic performance. They're not going to classes and aren't doing their homework, which of course means they're failing or getting incompletes. The step that Coach Carter takes next and the aftermath of his decision become the main focus of the rest of the film.

Overall, I had mixed feelings about Coach Carter. The film had many good things going for it, but a couple of bad points as well. For instance, I was fascinated by Coach Carter's methods for handling the boys and the way he earned their respect and trust without ever asking for it. It was immediately apparent that he truly cared for the boys and was interested in their well-being. In addition, I liked how the movie wasn't really about basketball. It wasn't about what the team did out on the court or how many games they won or lost during the season. It was about discipline, living up to your word, and thinking realistically about the future. It was about Coach Carter giving those boys a fighting chance in the world.

On the negative side, however, I thought the film dragged on at some points and contained scenes that could have been cut. For example, there's an extended party scene after the team wins a tournament, and the whole thing felt extraneous and out of place. The scenes that really worked were the ones that showed Coach Carter interacting with the boys and their parents, and the actual basketball scenes. I wasn't particularly interested in what the boys did beyond that. There was also a running subplot about one player's girlfriend being pregnant, which I felt didn't do anything to help the movie along. I know these scenes were meant to show what the players were dealing with off the court, but they were boring.

And as a side note here, I want to mention that I did some follow-up reading about Coach Carter and discovered that one of his players from the 1999 team depicted in the film was Courtney Anderson, who is now the starting tight end for the Oakland Raiders. There's no character in the film that corresponds with Anderson, however.

On the whole, I thought Coach Carter was a pretty good movie. It isn't strictly a sports movie and has elements that will appeal to a wide audience. Also, the fact that it's based on a true story helped me enjoy it more. This is not a movie that I would watch again and again, but it's worth seeing at least once.