Coaching high school football and basketball is a dream come true for Nixon grad

NIXON - Most young men who grow up playing basketball dream of one day taking their talents to the NBA.

Carlton McKinney was different - he dreamed of coaching high school basketball. Ironically, it was his basketball talent that not only helped him reach his childhood goal, it also took him through a 10-year professional basketball career.

"I always wanted to be a coach," McKinney said. "When I was in school, I thought my basketball coach (Dan McGovern) had the best job in the world. He got to teach PE and coach basketball."

After a successful college basketball career, McKinney - a Nixon High graduate of 1983 - played professionally for 10 years from 1988-97 in various countries ranging from Spain to Japan. He also had a two-year stint in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers (1989-90) and the New York Knicks (1991-92).

"The NBA was never an immediate goal," McKinney said. "My goal when playing was to be the best player I could be. I saw basketball as an opportunity to go to college, and if I continued to play well and work hard, I would keep my scholarship and graduate."

After graduating from Nixon, McKinney signed a National Letter of Intent to play at the University of Tulsa. McKinney was a member of Nixon High School's final senior class before the Nixon and Smiley ISDs consolidated to form Nixon-Smiley CISD.

McKinney played at Tulsa for two seasons (1983-85) before then-coach Nolan Richardson left to become the coach at the University of Arkansas. McKinney transferred to SMU where he redshirted the following season before finishing his college career with the Mustangs in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons.

While at SMU, McKinney averaged 15.3 points per game in 1986-87 and 16 points per game in 1987-88. He also played against Arkansas - his former coach's team - as both SMU and Arkansas were members of the now-defunct Southwest Conference at the time.

During McKinney's tenure at SMU, he guided the Mustangs to the 1987-88 NCAA Tournament round of 32 where they lost to eventual national semifinalist Duke, 94-79. Former San Antonio Spur Danny Ferry played for Duke that season.

McKinney's level of play impressed enough professional scouts to give him an opportunity to play professionally. He spent the majority of his career playing overseas in Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel, Japan, The Philippines, South Korea and The Netherlands.

"I loved playing basketball," McKinney said. "I relished having the opportunity to play in the NBA and in Europe."

Out of the places McKinney played professionally, he enjoyed Spain the most.

"In Spain, most people speak English and they have the BBC and British newspapers," McKinney said. "Of course, they speak Spanish there, but since most people knew English, there was a lot less of a language barrier there."

After his playing days were finished, McKinney went into coaching. He started his coaching career at Lifegate Christian School and was there from 1997-99 before he received a call to come home.

McKinney returned to Nixon-Smiley to coach boys basketball the following year (1999-2000), and he has been there ever since. McKinney will be the head coach of the boys basketball team for the 13th consecutive season, but he is currently in his second season as the head football coach.

McKinney always served as an assistant football coach at Nixon-Smiley, but another opportunity came knocking at his door two years ago.

"I became interim athletic director during the 2009-10 school year and we had an opening for the head football coach," he said. "My concern with finding a football coach was finding someone who would build a system from the ground up without changing too much, and also finding someone who the kids could trust."

The following school year, McKinney became the AD and head football coach for Nixon-Smiley, and still retained his head basketball duties. His first football season as head coach was rough as the Mustangs finished 3-7, but he feels more confident in his second year.

"Since I already know most of these kids, I didn't have to worry too much about developing trust with them like a lot of new head coaches do," McKinney said. "Last season we were working on developing our system. This season we're working on expanding it."

Nixon-Smiley won its season opener, 36-33, at Flatonia, and defeated Bloomington, 33-3. The Mustangs travel to Yorktown today for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

McKinney is not only expanding the system, he also wants to expand the amount of success his team has.

"I set the bar high for my players and I want to give them every opportunity to be successful," he said. "We're in a tough district, and in order to be successful in our district, you have to stay healthy and get some breaks along the way. I'm making sure we have the opportunity to get some breaks. If we play our best football during district play, we have just as good of a chance of making the playoffs as anyone else."

McKinney said he always wanted to do something he enjoyed. He believes he found that in teaching and coaching.

"I've been truly blessed to have the opportunity to teach and coach, and I'm enjoying every minute of it," McKinney said. "There has been some adversity along the way, but there has also been success. I think the adversity helped me become a better teacher and it made me enjoy my success even more."