After 32 years of experience, coach Richard Carson is calling it quits as the leader of College Park high school, a position he’s had since 2005. Carson admitted to contemplating retirement for awhile and claimed there was no real reason for the decision. Karen, his wife of 31 years, recently left her job as a school librarian at Lamar Elementary; the move prompted further thought by coach Carson on wanting to devote more time to his family in the latter years of his life.
The body of work he leaves behind is impressive: the majority of his coaching pedigree came from his 19-year success at Aldine high school, where the Mustangs made consecutive state championship runs in 1989-90, winning the second. Then, he was named offensive coordinator at Eisenhower for six years and promoted to head coach in 1997, leading the team to three consecutive state semi-finals. The last 11 seasons of his career were with College Park; he leaves the sport with an overall 110-80 record. Middle school included, coach Carson has coached in 646 games.
After this season, Carson will vacate both his responsibilities as HC and athletic director, but will remain an intricate part in helping College Park find his successor. In a recent interview with The Courier, Carson acknowledged how proud he was in the development of the school program from a start-up eleven years ago and the progress that’s been made since inception: “I’m proud of what we’ve done here at College Park,” he said. “I think we’ve shocked some people with all of our success, not just athletically but in every facet. We are a great school, rated high, and our kids have a lot of pride in it. When you start a school, the first battle that you fight is to make kids proud to be at this school. I think we’ve done that.”
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