Terry Carroll Biography

Terry Carroll took over the reins of the University of Denver men's basketball program in April of 2001 having come off back to back blockbuster seasons as the associate head coach at Iowa State where the Cyclones had enjoyed tremendous success in the Big 12 and postseason NCAA Tournament.

As Athletic Director M. Dianne Murphy put it at the press conference announcing Carroll's selection; "Today we are beginning a new era in our basketball program." Murphy continued; "Terry Carroll brings outstanding coaching credentials, experience, success and passion for the game to this head coaching position."

Carroll who was named associate head coach before the 1999-2000 season helped guide ISU to consecutive Big 12 Conference regular season crowns and postseason NCAA Tournament trips in 2000 and 2001. The Cyclones went to the Elite Eight following the 1999-2000 regular season ultimately losing to Michigan State, that years national champion.

Carroll has known success at all levels of athletic endeavor. He played both basketball and baseball in high school graduating with seven letters in the two sports. He was inducted into his high school's hall of fame having led the Ames High School (Iowa) Little Cyclones to a state basketball championship in 1973 and earned first team all-state status.

Carroll played one season at Oklahoma State then transferred to the University of Northern Iowa where he finished his basketball playing career being named captain of the team his senior year.

Carroll's career started coaching high school basketball for four seasons in his native Iowa before he became an assistant coach to Gary Garner at Drake University spending four years learing the tools of the trade.

He took over as head basketball coach at Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) in 1989 and coached the Warriors for the next nine seasons. Carroll led the Warriors to an incredible record of 269-50 (.843) averaging almost 30 wins per season.

He took IHCC to consecutive National Junior College Athletic Association championship crowns in 1997 and 1998. As a result Carroll was named NJCAA coach of the year following both seasons. While at Indian Hills he earned NJCAA District Coach of the Year honors four times as well as being awarded GTE Junior College Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches twice. Additionally he led the Warriors to 72 consecutive wins, an NJCAA record.

After getting off to a rough start in his first season at Denver 8-20 (.288) Carroll in typical fashion has righted the ship and has the Pioneers moving in the right direction. In Carroll's second and third seasons the team has compiled consecutive winning seasons and a 31-28 (.525) record including season sweeps of arch-rivals Colorado State and Wyoming. The first time the Pioneers' have accomplished this feat since the 1956-57 team turned the trick.

Other marks of significant improvement in the last two seasons, the team won two postseason games, two consecutive winning seasons a first for the Denver Pioneers since returning to Division I basketball seven seasons ago and continued improvement in all statistical areas of any importance.

Other than Carroll's intimate familiarity with success both as a player and a coach the reason one finds it easy to believe he will succeed is his coaching philosophy; as Carroll puts it he coaches his players to: "play hard, play smart and play together. If all of these things are done and done correctly, everything else will fall into place."

"Our goal is to improve as a team at every practice, week by week," Carroll says. "We want to give ourselves a chance to win every game we're in. We want to see our team work together to accomplish our goals."

"Our whole strategy is based on making our guys as physically and mentally strong as we can by putting them in tough situations in practice in order to reach their full competitive potential," Carroll explains. "Our practices will be more difficult than anything we will ever see in a game so that when they appear in a game, we will already have gone though them. We try to do this every day so that the whole team has to rally around each other to make it." Obviously, Carroll believes in the old saw which says "forewarned is forearmed."

Carroll holds a bachelor's degree from the Unniversity Northern Iowa in physical education and health. He earned his master's degree in science and physical education at Winona State.

Coach Carroll and his wife, Barb, have two children, a daughter, Stephanie and a son, Bill.

Some of his accomplishments are:

16 total years coaching men's college basketball
Led Ames High School (Iowa) to a state basketball championship in 1973
Earned first team all-state status as a high school player
Head basketball coach at Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) - Nine Seasons
Led the IHCC Warriors to an incredible record of 269-50 (.843)
Averaged almost 30 wins per season
Coached IHCC to consecutive National Junior College Athletic Association championship crowns in 1997 and 1998
Named NJCAA coach of the year following 1997 & 1998 seasons
Earned NJCAA District Coach of the Year honors four times
Awarded GTE Junior College Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches twice
Led the Warriors to 72 consecutive wins, an NJCAA record
Four year assistant coach to Gary Garner at Drake University
Three year assistant coaching career at Iowa State University
Named associate head coach before his second season at ISU
Helped guide ISU to consecutive Big 12 Conference regular season crowns
Helped coach ISU to consecutive postseason NCAA Tournament trips
Helped take ISU Cyclones to the Elite Eight following the 1999-2000 regular season
Accepted head coach men's basketball at University of Denver - April, 2003
Consecutive winning season winning mark of 31-28 (.525) 2003 - 2004 - First in seven seasons
Season sweeps of arch-rivals Colorado State and Wyoming
First time the Pioneers' accomplish season sweep of arch-rivals since 1956-57 team
Coached Pioneers to two postseason wins
Continued improvement in all statistical areas of any importance
Holds a bachelor's degree from the Unniversity Northern Iowa in physical education and health
Earned his master's degree in science and physical education at Winona State