Alonzo Carter was named the 14
th head football coach in Sacramento State history on Dev. 15, 2025.
Known for his recruiting ability and deep roots in Northern California, Carter is coming home and most recently served as the assistant head coach and running backs coach at the University of Arizona. Additionally, he has experience as a head coach at the high school and junior college levels.
Carter has spent the past nine seasons working under Brett Brennan at San Jose State and at the University of Arizona. He joined the Spartans football coaching staff in January 2017 as the running backs coach and added the duties of assistant head coach in 2021. After a successful run at SJSU which included three bowl appearances, he joined the Arizona staff prior to the 2024 season.
This season, the Wildcats went 9-3 in the regular season and will play in the Trust & Will Holiday Bowl on Jan. 2. The team rushed for 2,143 yards and 20 touchdowns and was led by Ismail Mahdi who had 826 yards and four scores. That effort helped Mahdi earn all-Big 12 Conference honors.
In his role as assistant head coach, he aided in the administration of the program, led practices and meetings in the head coach's absence and represented the team at campus and community events.
During Carter's final season at San Jose State (2023), running back Kairee Robinson finished second in the Mountain West Conference with a career-high 1,194 rushing yards and led the conference with a career-high 18 rushing touchdowns.
Carter's running backs played a large role in helping the Spartans go 7-1 overall in 2020, win the Mountain West title and end the season ranked 24
th in the AP Poll. The San Jose State backs averaged 4.5 yards per rush and became one of the first two teams in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history to complete a season without losing a fumble by a ball handler on offense, defense, and special teams.
As a head coach at Contra Costa JC from 2010-16, Carter led the team to four conference titles and a pair of bowl victories. In 2012, his team won the Bay Valley Conference, he was named the league coach of the year as well as the CCCFA Region II Coach of the Year. He added a second BVC title the following season and then won Pacific 7 Conference titles in 2014 and 2015. The team advanced to win the Living Breath Foundation Bowl in 2012 and 2014.
Prior to that position, Carter was the head coach at McClymonds High School in Oakland, Calif., for seven years (1999-06) where he won three CIF Oakland Section titles. He was also the head coach at Berkeley HS for three seasons (2007-09) and the head track and field coach at McClymonds High School for 13 years. Overall, he owns a 129-69-3 record as a head coach.
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and up to the start of the delayed season, Carter became a national figure through his West Coast Zoom clinics — weekly sessions involving hundreds of football coaches. Rooted in listening, learning and networking, he relied on his professional connections and hosted engaging ZOOM calls lasting up to seven hours, either once or twice a week. For his use of the Zoom technology platform, he received a 2020 Zoomtopia award for innovation — emphasis on diversity: bridging the divide.
In August 2020, he was named to the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches (NCMFC) executive committee. The organization's goal is to identify and groom coaches of color and create a list of coaching candidates for upward mobility. The NCMFC recognized his organizational commitment through his recruitment of more than 100 new members, providing mentoring, and mock interview sessions with its MVP Advocate Award for 2020. Since August 2020, he assisted 26 NCMFC members that advanced to coaching positions of greater responsibility or visibility.
Carter was inducted into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Contra Costa JC Hall of Fame in 2025. He holds coaching certifications from the American Football Coaches Association, the California Interscholastic Federation and the California Community College Athletic Association. Carter was selected to participate in the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship program in 2017 with the San Francisco 49ers.
Carter graduated from Cal State East Bay with a degree in African American studies in 2016. He was a member of the Pioneers' football and track and field teams while the school was known as Cal State Hayward. Carter is the father of four children: Alonzo Carter II, Alona Carter, Anthony Carter, and Kennedie Carter.
COACH CARTER FILE
- 247sports.com Mountain West Recruiter of the Year (2019)
- CCCAA Coach of the Year (2012, 2014, 2015)
- Alameda Contra Costa Area League Coach of the Year (2009)
- Named the East Bay Coach of the Year (2001, 2005, 2006)
- Contra Costa Hall of Fame, Class of 2025
- Head coach at Contra Costa College (2010-16)
- Went 47-27 and won four conference titles
- Head coach at Berkeley HS in Berkeley, Calif. (2007-09)
- Head coach at McClymonds HS in Oakland, Calif. (1999-06)
- Won four league championships and three Oakland Section titles in eight seasons
