For the month of December, Netflix brought back 2005 biopic “Coach Carter” to be streamed from their platform. Before fans check out the film or add it to their list of binge-worthy movie rewatches, they should understand the movie’s depth by being educated on its accuracy.
Coach Carter Film
The timeless classic stars critically acclaimed actor Samuel L. Jackson as former high school basketball player, Ken Carter who returns to his old high school, Richmond High School in Northern California, with hopes of changing the lives of the students on the basketball team.
Carter quickly whips his team of unapplied scholars into shape by intense workout routines and a precise contract stating that in order for the student-athletes to play basketball they have to maintain a GPA above 2.3.
After some of the players fail to fulfill their academic duties, Carter suspends the boys despite their undefeated basketball record. This action makes headlines, and even the school system questions whether the suspension should be lifted for the sake of basketball.
It didn’t take long for the boys to soon realize how important Carter’s methods were, which inspired them to begin to apply themselves to their books.
Carter’s players all graduated, thus proving that Carter’s tough teaching methods did in fact instill life lessons.
While the movie grossed over $76 million worldwide and had star-studded cast members such as 2000s pop icon Ashanti, “One on One” star Robert Ri’chard, Octavia Spencer and even Channing Tatum, the fictional characters’ well-acted storylines hardly compare to that of the real Ken Carter.
Ken Carter. (Photo: YouTube screenshot)
Is ‘Coach Carter’ a True Story?
Yes, Ken Carter is a real coach who went from being an everyday teacher to having celebrity status after benching his undefeated basketball team during their 1998-1999 season. In a 2015 interview with Esquire, Carter explained how his actions inspired producer Brian Roberts to create a film in his honor.
“I was getting a lot of publicity, but I had never thought about a movie. I was just being a teacher and a coach at the school, doing what I loved to do,” He said.
Carter continued to note that 98.5 peercent of the movie is correct, he also included, “I was on the set every single day shooting that movie.”
The actors even had a chance to witness Carter’s training techniques, “We were actually playing games. That was live scrimmages,” Carter stated.
“When they missed their shots in practice, I made the actors do 100 push-ups. After the first three days or so, they started putting in the extra time so they wouldn’t miss their shots,” he said.
Carter coached at Richmond from 1997 to 2002, and the now-63-year-old spends his time as a motivational speaker and author. In 2009, he founded the Coach Carter Impact Academy boarding school in Marlin, Texas, where he served as the dean and headmaster.
