Updated: April 7, 2025
A member of the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame and a standout defensive lineman on the school's first-ever Gulf South Conference championship team, Steve Carter officially joined the coaching staff as the defensive line coach in January 2025.
Carter volunteered with the defensive staff in 2024 and has served in the coaching world since 1981.
From 1993-2001, Carter served as an assistant head coach at Delta State and North Alabama. He has also coached at nine nearby high schools over his career, most recently at Athens High School under UNA Hall of Fame quarterback Cody Gross. Carter has worked with defensive line and linebackers and assisted the strength and conditioning efforts at Athens since 2017.
Carter played three seasons of football with the Lions from 1978-80 and was a standout on the defensive line. He helped lead the Lions to their first Gulf South Conference football championship in 1980 and was an All-Gulf South Conference selection with 66 tackles and six tackles for loss. UNA finished with a 10-2 record and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Prior to joining forces with Coach Brent Dearmon, Carter served a total of 12 seasons as an assistant football coach at UNA under three different head coaches. He coached under Wayne Grubb from 1981-87, Bobby Wallace in 1988 and Bill Hyde from 1998-2001. During this time as an assistant coach, he helped lead the Lions to GSC titles and NCAA Playoff appearances in 1983 and 1985.
As a college football defensive coach, Carter has led eight defenses to the fewest points per game allowed in the GSC. He accomplished this six times at UNA in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1998. He also did this twice at Delta State in 1995 and 1996.
The long list of Carter's high school coaching career includes stops at Central (1989), Colbert County (1990-92), Wilson (2002-07), Tishomingo County (2007-11), Pelham (2011-13), Alcorn Central (2013-14), Austin (2014-16), Corinth (2016-17) and Athens (2017-24). His stops at Colbert County and Tishomingo County were as the head coach and athletic director.
Carter has led or assisted 11 different teams to a high school state playoff appearance. His 1992 Colbert County team was Area Champions and made the third round of the state playoffs. Additionally, the 2015 Austin team made the state semifinals.
For his stellar playing career, Carter was inducted to the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame in the Class of 2010. He was selected to the Times Daily’s First Forty Years All-Time UNA football team and was named to the 50th Anniversary UNA Football Team in 1998.
Carter was a first team all-conference selection in both 1978 and 1980. In his final season, he was named team captain and was an MVP Defensive Lineman. He led the team to the 1980 GSC Championship and a semifinal appearance in the NCAA Playoffs.
He and his wife, Myra, still reside in Florence and have two daughters, Mallory and McKenzie.
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