After four seasons in charge of the Rantoul Township High School football program, Shane Carter is no longer the Eagles’ head coach.

Carter officially resigned from the position on Friday after learning earlier last week he would not be retained by the RTHS school board.

Carter compiled a 7-29 record during his tenure, which came after he served six seasons as an RTHS assistant coach.

RTHS Superintendent Scott Amerio said coaches are reappointed every year, and the board made a decision at its Feb. 13 meeting to not reappoint Carter.

“I think conversations I’ve had with Shane and conversations I’ve had with some individual board members, I think Shane feels he may not have the support he needs to continue as head coach,” Amerio said. “It was kind of the process of once the season ended, getting the coaches’ evaluations done, looking at those evaluations (and) seeing what they said. I wanted some time to discuss options with the rest of the administrative team and talk with Shane before they did make any decision.”

Carter seemed shocked and stunned, like many of his players felt, that he would not be the Eagles’ head coach for the 2012 season.

“There was no indication I was having issues until about a week before the board meeting,” Carter said. “That kind of did leave a bad taste in my mouth about the short notice and not given a chance to speak on my behalf. I know the board doesn’t legally have to give you that right, but I wasn’t given a chance to stand up and defend myself at all or given a chance to correct the imperfections that they were seeing. That’s where the disappointment came. It hurt to have something taken away from you and not quite understanding why at first, but now that I’ve had time to think, I see it through their eyes. I do. I just wish it might have been handled a little differently.”

The 1989 RTHS graduate and former RTHS football player considered the position “the pinnacle of the job I always wanted.”

“When I decided to start coaching, I thought, ‘One day I would love to walk the sidelines at Rantoul Township High School as the head coach,’” Carter said. “Given the opportunity to do that, I’ve been blessed. I’m blessed that I had the chance to come back home and lead a program that gave me so much as a young man, and give that back to the kids. Over 10 years of coaching, I think I’ve done that.”

Carter met with his players after school on Feb. 14 to inform them of the news. He called that meeting “heart-breaking.”

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a coach,” Carter said. “Thinking of it (now), it still tears me up a little bit. I had a love for these kids like they were my own, and they were hurt.”

Carter, 41, played for the late Dick Hood at RTHS as an offensive tackle and defensive end.

His junior and senior seasons ended with the Eagles in the playoffs.

The 1987 team, which was only the second team to make the playoffs at the school, advanced all the way to the Class 4A semifinals, the deepest run RTHS has had. Carter’s senior season at RTHS ended in the second round of the playoffs.

“I tried to instill some of the same things I learned from (Hood), but it’s a different era and a different time,” Carter said. “You’ve got to adapt to the mentality of the student-athletes of today. I had set expectations for this program when I took over, and we have failed to reach those expectations. The powers to be feel that they need to go in a different direction. It’s kind of a mutual agreement between them and me that it’s best that I step aside. We haven’t reached, in those four years, the expectations that I had set for this program.”

As the program’s head coach Carter wasn’t able to enjoy any postseason success, failing to reach the playoffs in his four years. The Eagles were 1-8 this season, which came after consecutive seasons of 3-6 after the Eagles were 0-9 in 2008, Carter’s first season as head coach.

Amerio said the program’s decline in numbers this season didn’t help matters. The Eagles dressed roughly 30 players at each varsity game, and the school had to cancel the freshman season after not enough players showed up to play. Amerio said Carter’s record didn’t factor into his resignation.

“If we keep going this way and the numbers continue to decrease ... what’s next?” Amerio said. “Are we going to have to cancel both the freshmen and sophomore seasons? That’s doing a disservice to the kids. That’s ultimately what it boils down to. To those people who say, ‘Well, I’m not buying this. It’s about the record.’ No, it’s about doing what we need to do for the benefit of the kids. If the kids aren’t out there playing football, which they weren’t this year because the numbers were down, we’ve got to figure out a way to change that.”

Carter was visibly frustrated the first day of practice this season in mid-August by the turnout of players.

“Maybe I could have done more in promoting the program to the community or the incoming eighth-graders,” Carter said. “It’s hard to get kids to come out and work when you’re not winning. That’s the bottom line. Winning will solve all the problems.”

Carter has taught at RTHS since 2002 and is an assistant varsity girls basketball coach with the Eagles. Carter said he wants to continue to teach at RTHS next school year, but isn’t totally decided now about his future or if he’ll continue as an assistant girls basketball coach.

“I’m going to look at what my options are,” he said. “I’ve got to decide if I’m ready to quit coaching. I love the game; I love the kids, and I still think I’ve got a lot to learn about the game and a lot to still give back to the game. A lot is up in the air right now, but I’m feeling a lot better about myself and about the position I’m in at this stage than I did earlier (last) week. The pain and the heartbreak is gone.”

Carter said he is working toward obtaining a master’s degree in administration through Eastern Illinois University. He said he’ll have to sit and discuss with his wife, Dianna, what he’ll do next year.

“One of my thoughts was just focusing on getting (the master’s) taken care of, which would take about two years without football,” Carter said. “That opens the door from what do I do from there?”

The Eagles were on the verge of reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2005 in 2010 when they started 3-2 and upset Mahomet-Seymour on the road in week five.

But they lost their next four games, and the tailspin continued in 2011, with the Eagles’ only victory coming in week four at Stanford Olympia.

Under Carter, the Eagles had a record-setting quarterback in 2011 in Terry Deaville, who broke the single-season and career passing yards mark, while Tyvon Davis earned All-State honors as a running back for his 2010 season.

“There are things I know that I’ll walk away from this program knowing I did the best job I could do,” Carter said. “I poured my heart and soul into this place. I still do because this is home. This is where I grew up. I sweat and bled on that same field as these kids did.”

Since RTHS does not have a full-time athletic director yet, Amerio said Principal Todd Wilson will be the point man in the interview process.

A committee might be formed as well, and Amerio said he’s not sure how much interim AD Allen Jones Sr. will be involved in the search. Of course, a new AD could be approved as soon as the March board meeting. Amerio has said in the past that he would prefer to have the new AD hired by spring.

“I haven’t really thought the entire process through,” Amerio said. “We’ll get it posted, (and) we’ll look at applications.”

Another obstacle the district will have to clear is there are no vacant teaching positions at the high school, which might have a say in who applies and who doesn’t.

“Normally, your football coaches are from your teaching positions,” Amerio said. “Ideally, that’s what we want. We want someone teaching here on staff that’s the head coach. It’s a point of emphasis for us. I think that helps so much with the program. You can build relationships with the kids that you need to build. You can be able to check on things that need to get done. It’s much better to have your head coach on the teaching staff.”

Amerio said he thinks the public’s opinion on Carter leaving will be split.

“There are a lot of people out there that like Shane and like the effort he put into the program,” Amerio said. “I’m sure there are other people out there who thought, ‘Well, the program isn’t where we as citizens of Rantoul would like it, and maybe it’s time for a change.’”

Carter said the next few months will require some “soul-searching” from him about the past four seasons.

“Why weren’t we more successful? Why didn’t I do this? What could I have done different?” Carter said. “I’ve got to figure out why I didn’t do so well. It’s hard to answer why I’m not the head coach. Those are the questions I’ve got to answer myself.”
mdaniels@rantoulpress.com