Mike Carter is retiring July 30

For 27 years Mike Carter has been the Athletic Director at Oral Roberts University. He will soon be stepping down from that position, but his accomplishments will continue to impact ORU for many years to come.

Carter will be transitioning from his current role to Athletic Director Emeritus, at the end of July, and current Deputy Athletic Director Tim Johnson will assume the role of Athletic Director on Aug. 1. The announcement was made at a recent ORU board of trustees meeting.

“It’s been an honor and privilege to have served as Athletic Director at Oral Roberts University,” Carter said in a release.

“I thank God for the opportunity to serve our wonderful student-athletes and invest in their lives competitively, intellectually, socially and spiritually. In my new role, I will consult with the new athletic leadership, while continuing to assist the athletic department in fundraising and community relations. This will give me the chance to spend more time with my family and grandchildren and hopefully play a little golf.”

Carter arrived at ORU in Nov. 1994, and is the fourth-longest tenured athletic director currently running a NCAA Division I program.

He’s guided the Golden Eagles to nine Commissioner’s Cups, winning 153 regular season and tournament titles, and sent 84 teams to NCAA Championships, including ORU’s magical run to the Sweet 16 in March.

During Carter’s tenure, the ORU athletic department has enjoyed great success, including three individual national championships in track and field (Andretti Bain with two, and Jack Whitt) along with 102 All-Americans and more than 1,400 all-conference selections. The baseball program has had 74 draft picks in the last 25 years, and nine of them reached Major League Baseball.

He created the ELI Academic Learning Center that’s helped Golden Eagle student-athletes exceed a 3.0 GPA for 23-consecutive years and spearheaded the completion of the state-of-the-art John and Cheryl Clerico Golf Complex in 2019.

Carter was named the 2012 Division I Central Region Athletic Director of the Year. He served on the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf committee for the last 20 years and was the chairman on two occasions.

Also announced during the trustees meeting, the school will be building of a new athletic center and plan to name it in honor of Mike Carter. The new facility will be constructed next to the Mabee Center, and will contain two regulation basketball courts, a 10,000 square foot strength and conditioning space, accommodate the ELI Academic Learning Center, team meeting rooms, and office space for athletic department staff.

This facility is badly needed to keep up with the ever-growing demand to compete with other universities and athletic facilities. The practice courts and workout facility alone will improve ORU’s standing in the recruiting of basketball players.

Plus, the current office space at the Mabee Center has been inadequate for many years. I know, I used to have an office in that athletic department, twice.

Johnson joined the department in 2015-16. Johnson was previously the assistant athletic director at Clemson. He currently oversees all external departments, directs capital fundraising, major gifts, and other sources of revenue generation along with strategic initiatives. He also provides sport oversight for baseball and assistance in the men’s basketball program.

ORU ELI AWARDS

The ORU athletics department held the 2021 ELI Awards last week, to honor its student-athletes who had excelled in competition, in the classroom and in the community.

Those recognized included student-athletes who had earned Summit League Player of the Year, All-Academic or All-America honors. Six student-athletes were selected as the 2020-21 Whole Person Champions: Max Abmans (men’s basketball), Ryan Cash (baseball), Francis Lacis (men’s basketball), Miles Motakef (men’s soccer), Sarah Thiessen (volleyball) and Sasha Wells (track & field).

The men’s basketball team captured the Carter Cup for their work in the community and the classroom.

Associate A.D. Kyle Jones gave out his Eli Awards for Academic Excellence, which went to: Makayla Ayres (track & field), Sarah Garvie (women’s basketball), Andrew Guymon (men’s tennis), Brianna McGowan (women’s soccer) and Sasha Wells (track & field).

Other awards given out on the night included the Varsity Club Award ( athletic trainer John Joslin), Breakout Athlete of the Year (Max Abmas, men’s basketball), Comeback Athlete of the Year (DeShang Weaver, men’s basketball), All In Award (Braden Brus, men’s soccer and Martha Helsee, women’s soccer) and the Iron Eagle Award (Keni Jo Lippe, women’s basketball and Trey Wolf, baseball).