LAFAYETTE — 2023 will be remembered as a full circle moment for Northside's Jacarde Carter.
"It's not a burden for me. It feels like it supposed to be doing it."
Carter was a middle linebacker for the Vikings from 2005-2009. Before stepping on campus, he witnessed the '04 squad making an appearance in the 4A state championship game and that's when he knew he belonged.
"We played against John Curtis in the championship game and we ended up losing that one 29-14 but at time, The Side was the place to be", says Carter.
That squad, not able to get the job done, as that would be the last team to make it to the dome but Carter looks forward to now being on the coaching side in his team going the distance.
"Once the job became available, I was the first one to fill out the application because I definitely wanted it and the rest is pretty much history."
Following the end of last season, Carter was named as head coach of Northside. The promotion came after spending 2022 as the defensive coordinator. Before then, he spent a few years as head coach at Lafayette Christian leading the program to four consecutive state championships.
In his transition back home, he says the one of the biggest lessons from winning was making the best of what's available.
"You can do more with less if less is willing to do more. That's just my scope on things."
And now as carter looks to shift the Vikings back to a winning program, while revamping the culture of "'The Side", he's more than ready to lead head on.
"I'm up for the challenge and Rome wasn't built in a day but it can happen fast. Some stuff happens faster than others, some stuff takes time. If we get our mindset moving in the right direction, I think that we can have some success here, pretty quickly."
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