Wichita State’s new volleyball assistant comes from coaching pipeline

He was one of the Boomerang Boys, the group of friends who hung out at Walt Ker’s house in Valencia, Calif. He was the little guy, played second base, and stood out because of his athletic ability and intensity.

“We called them the Boomerang Boys, because we kept trying to get rid of them and they kept coming back,” Ker said, laughing at the memory of his son, Kevin, and his friends watching TV on his couch.

Ker recruited a club volleyball team off that couch one day, turning eight eighth-graders who played baseball and basketball into a successful team. New Wichita State assistant Sean Carter started his transition from baseball to volleyball that day, a journey that connected him with Ker and Arizona coach Dave Rubio. Both are close friends with WSU coach Chris Lamb and part of his volleyball think-tank that spins ideas and solves problems via text and call.

“We talk shop daily and I think it’s a group of great teachers,” Lamb said. “People that are going to impress my guys are going to impress me.”

Lamb hired Carter, 26, in July to replace Jeff Sanders. Carter spent the past two years as an assistant women’s coach at The Master’s College, an NAIA school in Santa Clarita, Calif. He grew up in nearby Valencia and said he had a chance to remain at The Master’s as head coach. Leaving home and athletes he recruited wasn’t easy for Carter.

“I want to be a Division I head coach some day, so being here is really where I need to be,” Carter said. “Now when I look back at it, I don’t know why it was as hard as it was. At the end of the day, I need to know what Division I is like and if it’s really for me.”

He researched Wichita State, and attendance for matches at Koch Arena impressed him. He knew Lamb’s reputation as an innovator and wanted to learn the women’s game after growing up with the men’s game. Lamb’s way of looking at his lineup and arranging his players with his setter is causing Carter to expand his thoughts on how to maximize a player’s role and use their talents.

“When everybody is zigging, he’s zagging,” Carter said. “I was excited to be mentored by somebody like that, to help me think about the game differently. He’s helped me to look at establishing a lineup totally different than I would have.”

Ker turned Carter from a second baseman into a libero and soon saw him as a coach-in-training. When Ker talked to one of his players, Carter would listen. When Ker walked on the court to correct positioning or technique, Carter often beat him to the spot.

“Sean would be there using the exact words I would use,” Ker said. “He was an incredible sponge and learner. He knew every position, every technique.”

Ker coached Carter for four years. When Carter graduated from high school, Ker recommended him as a club coach. Along the way, Carter realized he wanted to follow Ker‘s lead and coach.

“Sports was the only thing that kind of fired me up,” Carter said. “I did well in school, but a lot of it was that I had to get good grades in order to play sports.”

Carter, then 19, coached while he played one season and redshirted one at Cal State Northridge. About the time he grew disatisified with the prospects for playing time, Rubio called with an offer to manage the Wildcats. With coaching his goal, he quit playing and moved to Arizona. While it cost him a trip to the Final Four in 2010 with Northridge, membership in the Ker-Rubio pipeline paid off. Rubio taught him the organizational skills and the work ethic that it takes to run a high-level program.

“It helped me have the confidence, the knowledge that I can do this, I can coach volleyball,” Carter said. “It was invaluable, because of a lot of this is who you to know to get in the door (for jobs). After that, they find out pretty quick if you know what you’re doing.”

Sanders coached with Lamb for 10 seasons and organized the offense during matches while Lamb positioned WSU’s defense, although there is plenty of overlap. Second-year assistant Matt Hoffman will take the lead on offense during matches. Carter will focus on serving. In practices and in the office, Lamb wants his assistants to take on many roles. He doesn’t divide recruiting by geographic areas or slot assistants into coaching positions.

Ker and Rubio told Lamb that Carter was a rising star who wanted to make a career in coaching.

“He’s a people person,” Lamb said. “There are coaches that can make a lot of noise and people get tired of hearing it. There are coaches who make a lot of noise and people want to hear more. He has that going for him — charisma.”

Ker is in Hawaii this week on vacation. On the flight over, he read his wife text messages from Lamb updating him on his protege’s work with the Shockers.

“Sean’s not afraid to grab the bull by the horns and Chris was appreciative of how assertive he was right out of the gate,” Ker said. “He feels like he’s got another teacher in the gym. I got one recently where he said Sean was stalking up and down the sidelines during the match and talking and Chris was loving it and the athletes were loving it.”

Worth noting — WSU (4-3) opens play in the Bluejay Invitational at 4:30 p.m. Friday against Bowling Green (2-4). The Shockers play Pepperdine (3-3) and host Creighton (3-3) on Saturday. Creighton started the season ranked No. 23 before losing to No. 22 Kansas, No. 6 Southern California and No. 16 Kentucky.… Creighton has won five straight matches against WSU and is 4-0 in Sokol Arena. The Bluejays defeated the Shockers 3-2 last season at Koch Arena.… Freshman outside hitter Mikaela Raudsepp leads WSU with an average of 2.76 kills a set. Middle Kristin Byers has an attack percentage of .380, fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference.… Saturday’s match against Creighton at 7:30 p.m. will be televised on Cox 22.

This story was originally published September 11, 2014 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s new volleyball assistant comes from coaching pipeline."