Khyreed Carter Joins Women’s Basketball Staff as an Assistant Coach
Khyreed Carter, who was a member of Felisha Legette-Jack‘s staff at the University at Buffalo for the last five years, has joined her staff at Syracuse. Carter’s top focus with the Orange will be player development, a skill he excelled in during his time in Buffalo.
“Coach KC is going to be our player development person,” Legette-Jack said. “He loves to get in the gym and develop talent. That is a lost art in this business. I love his basketball mind. He will talk offensive strategies and game preparation. He’s taken every step from graduate assistant to director of operations and now to an ACC assistant coach. I love that I am witnessing a young coach emerge. Orange Nation, please help me welcome Khyreed Carter and his family to Syracuse.”
While at Buffalo, Carter worked with the guards for the last five years. During that stretch, UB had a guard rank top five in the nation in scoring and twice win MAC Freshman of the Year honors.
“I am beyond excited to join the Syracuse Women’s Basketball family,” Carter said. “Success is in the DNA of this program, and I look forward to helping these young ladies pursue championships in the classroom, on the court and in life. The opportunity to join Coach Jack at her alma mater is a tremendous honor and we will make the Syracuse community proud.”
Under Carter’s guidance, the Bulls had a top-5 scorer in the country in four consecutive seasons from 2018-22 in Cierra Dillard and Dyaisha Fair. Buffalo ranked top-20 in the country in assists and assists to turnover ratio three times during his tenure in the Queen City and in 2018 UB led the nation in free throw attempts and free throws made.
In Carter’s first season at Buffalo, the Bulls reached historic success with a 29-6 overall record. They earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history, becoming the first program in the State University of New York (SUNY) system to advance to a Division I Sweet Sixteen on both the men’s and women’s side. They ranked No. 21 in the final USA Today Top-25 Coaches Poll and had three All-MAC Second Team honorees.
In 2019, Buffalo won the MAC Tournament and finished 24-10 overall with Dillard earning MAC Tournament MVP honors and All-MAC First Team recognition. Dillard went on to become the first WNBA Draft Pick in program history when she was selected 22nd overall by the Minnesota Lynx. She was a finalist on the Dawn Staley Award Watch List and was Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America.
In Fair’s freshman season at UB, she was named MAC Freshman of the Year and helped Buffalo to a 19-12 record. The following season Buffalo went 15-9 overall while Fair emerged as one of the top guards in the country as a Nancy Lieberman Award Finalist and a top-10 finalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award.
This past season, Carter helped guide Buffalo back to the NCAA Tournament after the Bulls earned the league’s automatic bid with another MAC Tournament Championship. Fair was again a finalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award and was an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American. Freshman Georgia Woolley became the second UB guard to earn MAC Freshman of the Year honors under Carter’s guidance.
Carter began his career in women’s college basketball as a graduate assistant at Michigan State, his alma mater, in 2015. He assisted the coaches in all daily basketball operations, pre-game scout presentations, on-campus recruiting visits, team meals and oversaw the 20-member male scout team.
Carter is a two-time graduate of Michigan State earning his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2015 and a master’s degree in kinesiology and exercise science in 2017. While an undergraduate, he was a member of the scout team, served as scout team captain and was a camp counselor for both Suzy Merchant and Tom Izzo’s basketball summer camps.
Carter resides in Syracuse with his wife Kyla G’19, who earned her master’s in African American studies from the College of Arts and Sciences, and their two daughters Kairo and Kaisley.
