ALTON - Alton High School softball coach Dan Carter will be returning to the team he started with in his Redbirds' coaching career.
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Carter was recently hired to be the Alton High girls volleyball coach and will start his second tour of duty this fall. Previously, Carter coached the team from 1994-2009, compiling a 203-210 record in his 15 seasons, going 24-9 in the 2009 season. He succeeds Stacey Ferguson, who recently stepped down after 11 seasons at the helm for the Redbirds.
"I'm excited about it, excited to be back," Carter said in a recent interview. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity ahead, and it's an opportunity to get back into it."
Carter will also continue to coach the Redbirds' softball team, which he's done for the past 20 season, going 426-275 with a pair of IHSA regional titles. His goal in both programs is to keep things moving forward.
"A few things changed, but I'm going to focus on both," Carter said, "and keep things in both into a positive direction."
Although Carter hasn't been the head coach for the past 11 seasons, he's still aware of developments in the girls volleyball program and knows most of the players on the team. He served as an assistant coach at Alton Middle School for four years, and knows most of the younger players who will be coming into the program.
"I did help coach at the middle school for four years, so I know what's going on," Carter said, "and I know most of the girls from that program, so I know what I need to do to move forward."
Carter favors an aggressive, offensive style of volleyball, and also feels that volleyball is a different type of game than most other sports. He's also looking forward to going to work with his team, see the kind of talent he has, and finding spots to see where his players will fit within his system.
"We graduated a couple of girls from last year," Carter said, "but there's quite a few girls coming back. I"m looking forward to getting into the gym, getting to work, and seeing where they fit."
Carter is also looking forward to competing in the Southwestern Conference, always among the state's best athletic conferences, and every match is a nip-and-tuck affair.
"That's true in any sport," Carter said. "When you're coaching at Alton, you're going to see great competition in the conference in any sport. It's great to see where you stand."
The Redbirds graduated two seniors - libero Samantha Dosso and outside hitter Janelle Rose - and return a very good nucleus of juniors and seniors, including seniors-to-be Olivia Ducey, Shiann Johnson, Brooke Wolff, Hallie Gebelein and Shelby Kulp, along with very good underclassmen and younger players coming up. The current COVID-19 pandemic has put a lot of summer prep work on hold for the time being, and Carter is taking a wait-and-see approach.
"Obviously, it's a wait-and-see situation, and we hope it gets resolved by fall," Carter said, " but we'll take it day-by-day."
The goal is to put out a competitive side that works and battles hard every night, and Carter is looking ahead to getting to work and see what his team will bring to the table.
"It's really hard to see until we get into the gym," Carter said, "and see where we are. In looking at the scores from last year, we were very competitive, and I think we'll have a very competitive team this year. It all depends if we can get over the hump."
For more information about the Redbirds team, or for potential players to ask about trying out for the team, please E-mail Carter at dcarter@altonschools.org.
