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Zone Read: Sacrifice for the Greater Good

Arizona Sports News online

“For them to love me up the way they did, that made me trust them.”

On a windy July afternoon with Ash Fork High’s beat up field as the backdrop, Vollon Golden, between deep breathes, did his best to hold back tears.

The then-South Mountain High Defensive Line and  JV Head Coach was, at the time, dealing with the short stick life had dealt him. He had recently tragically lost his little brother and nephew. His existence temporarily lost meaning. Golden, a father of four, was partying too much, often finding himself “at the wrong place at the wrong time,” as he said to me.

An unexpected intervention with Marcus and Mark Carter turned into a deep-rooted friendship, which helped Golden restore his greater purpose, with his kids serving as his foundation for change.

You see, long before the Carter’s were “a thing,” they were doing their thing: positively impacting people’s lives of all ages.

In the chaos and clouting of social posts and the accompanying year-round Arizona high school football chatter, the bigger picture often falls out of focus in this state. Anyone can open the little app on their cell phone and start an on-line brush fire in a matter of minutes.

Before we dive deeper into the present, it’s important to re-introduce the Carter’s past.

In early 2019, I pitched them on the idea to follow South Mountain to their upcoming football camp in Ash Fork, which is located 50 miles north of Prescott on Route 66, and boasts a population of around 360. South was on no one’s football map and, at the time, the Carter’s were mostly unknowns in local high school circles.

Over those five days, it quickly became evident their lives’ work was much greater than the wins and losses on Friday night. South’s roster, with many kids coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds, were provided motivation, mentoring, and meals – three inconsistencies for the teenagers or, in Golden’s case, adults simply trying to find direction.

For the majority of the players, the camp was the perfect “summer vacation.” They were able to leave any stresses in the Valley behind and feel part of a team, part of something bigger than themselves.

During the twins four years at SMHS, they not only shouldered a football program, they gave a school, and the whole south Phoenix community, a meaningful and uplifting purpose through endless inspiration and unity. Their #CTC hashtag truly did “Change The Culture,” capped on the field with South’s first region championship in over a decade in 2019.

Their structure and success brought opportunity, a bigger platform, and higher football expectations at Desert Edge.

However you feel about the Carter’s, the fact is they have stayed true to themselves, from their first day at South, to their stunning resignation at DE. In a high school football community filled with territorial head coaches, they consistently hyped up opposing players after games, and took the time to applaud opposing teams – win or lose. It was not just genuine but ground-breaking. 

Are they perfect? Not even close. Have they mis-stepped? Absolutely. But why are we now to the point where everything stated above is simply getting torn down? We are taught when we make a mistake, admit the mistake.

Mark Carter took ownership with a penalty far too severe. Why was that not enough for the AIA Executive Board and, in the much bigger picture, why is there such a lack of transparency on not only this ruling, but others from the past? The 9-0 vote shows just how tone deaf this group of so-called “leaders” are. If your ax to grind is truly as big as a one-year, two-program probation over a Facebook post directed at the parent whose child never played football at Cactus, pull back the power veil and clarify why you’re toying with the mental health of so many Desert Edge student-athletes. 

A consistent theme in the past from Executive Director David Hines has been, with close to 300 schools under the AIA, it’s up to the districts, and their respective schools, to govern themselves. If this is truly the case, how was a self-imposed ONE-YEAR suspension by Mark Carter not more than sufficient? I’d be shocked if we ever know. Further, if this is the precedent moving forward, why would any district/school self-impose a violation, knowing the Executive Board will bring an even bigger sledgehammer to their final ruling? The committee living on both sides of the street does nothing but further blur the lines.  

Probation for Desert Edge football and track is a penalty which serves to benefit no one, especially when you peel back the onion and truly dig into this social media recruitment. Quite simply, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Not even close.

There are high schools in our state who openly recruit. Coaches can safely live in the gray area of the AIA rules. Kids talk to kids, and if you don’t think some head coaches are influencing their own players to recruit for them, you’re simply out of touch with the life and times of high school football in Arizona. 

“Had a player of mine tell me a player at another school called him and put the coach on the phone to try to get him to transfer,” one head coach told me via text recently.

I cringe to think what the underbelly of Arizona high school football will look like in the next one, two, even five years. The undertow of mud will likely be much deeper.

Mark and Marcus Carter stamped their validation of loyalty to their now former Desert Edge athletes in hopes of keeping both programs off probation.

There’s a saying, “Set the example, don’t be the example.”

Unfortunately, in this case, the Carters were both.

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