With a striking change of pace and fresh strategy, Tyra Carver is determined to turn things around for the women’s basketball team this upcoming season as their new head coach. 

As a Goshen College alumna and former player, she has returned to her alma mater with a wealth of experience and a vision for success. 

Growing up, Carver developed a love of basketball through her father. She said, “He had these basketballs downstairs and by the time I was four, I was dribbling around a men’s size basketball and just fell in love with it.” 

The love only intensified during her time as a player at GC, particularly during the 2015-2016 when the team made it to the national semifinals. 

According to goleafs.net, during her time on that historic team, Carver managed to find herself in the all-time top 10 list for scoring, field goals made, three-point field goal percentage and free throws made. 

She made all-conference postseason teams twice, and additionally took part in the track and field program, participating in the shot put, discus and hammer throw.

“The experience shaped the trajectory of my life,” Carver said. “We started from the bottom and worked our way to the top. We learned how to buy into a system and work towards one common goal.” Now, as head coach, Carver emphasizes the importance of mental resilience and teamwork with a philosophy unrelated to the game of basketball, 

Carver explained, “I want to help the players become better adults in the world. We have 11 seniors this year; they’re going out into the real world soon. I am raising the next generation of women.”

After her GC career, Carver moved on to playing semi-professionally on the Grand Rapids Galaxy. Afterwards, she took a job as the assistant coach for Louisburg College in Louisburg, North Carolina, helping them to a 26-6 season. 

According to her biography on goleafs.net, over the next two years she guided Catawba Valley, in Hickory North Carolina, to an overall record of 50-12 as assistant coach. A familiar returning face for the women’s team, Carver took a job last year, for the 2023-2024 season, as assistant coach, under her former coach Stephanie Miller.

Honing her passion for athletic and academic excellence over the past eight years, Carver explains her coaching style as calm and intentional, focused on giving players the tools they need to succeed. 

Zion Neat, a fifth-year in the Transition to Teaching program, describes Carver as “the complete opposite of what we are used to in all of the right ways. Her coaching style is fast, but she is in touch with us as players and encourages us to be in touch with ourselves.”

For Carver, coaching is about more than just winning games. It is about fostering growth, building confidence and unconditional faith in her team. “I want to give back and make a difference in these young women’s lives. They work hard and have done phenomenal work.” 

As the season tips off, Carver’s commitment to the well-being of the next generation extends beyond her role as a coach. 

Beginning this semester, she will also be the official advisor to the Black Student Union. “I was BSU president during my time as a student here and am looking forward to empowering the voices as I take on the advisor position.”

With Tyra Carver at the helm, GC’s women’s basketball and BSU are poised for a bright future, built on the pillars of innovative strategy and personal growth.

The women’s team tips off for their first season game at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, November 1. The game, which is Halloween costume night, is against University of Michigan-Dearborn.

This will start a series of five games building up to their first conference match-up, where they will take on the Bethel University pilots on the road at Nov. 23 at 1:00 p.m. 

With reporting by Griffin Eash