Northwest baseball skipper becomes all-time winningest coach
Mark Carson knew this day was coming.
After surpassing the 500-win milestone nearly two years ago, the Independence native and former Northwest baseball student-athlete joined Jim Miles as one of only two Ranger baseball coaches to capture 500 wins or more.
Still, even through last year’s 37-win season and this year’s current 20-9 overall record, Carson downplayed the imminent landmark. The 20-year head coaching veteran has never been one to seek attention, and certainly beating an all-time wins record that has stood since 1997 was not necessarily something he was aiming for.
“It’s still hard for me to believe that I am even in this position and in the same conversation as [Miles] and Coach Donny Castle,” Carson said, following last Saturday’s doubleheader against Copiah-Lincoln. “It is a huge honor and I am so humbled by it, to be honest. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what both of those men have done over the years - not just for me, but for this entire program – and I would not be where I am now without them.”
Decades in the making
To first understand the significance of Carson’s achievement, one must first recognize the history of the Northwest baseball program.
Since 1976, only three men have served in the head coaching role at NWCC, starting first with Miles, whose career spanned until 1997. During his tenure, the Rangers won seven MACJC North Division titles, six MACJC championships and two NJCAA Region 23 crowns.
Toward the end of his tenure, Miles brought two teams to the NJCAA Division II World Series in 1996-97. His 1996 team finished as the national runner-up.
Castle, Miles’ longtime assistant, followed as the Rangers’ head coach from 1998-2005, before Carson took over the reins prior to the start of the 2006 season. Castle had success of his own, including a 10-year professional baseball career with the Washington Senators, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, before helping Northwest to three division titles and one MACJC championship.
It was during the 1988-89 seasons that Carson suited up for Miles at NWCC, before continuing his career at Southern Miss. He then coached a few years at Briarcrest Christian School, before returning to the Rangers as Castle’s assistant coach in 1998.
“He’s like a second Dad to me,” Carson said, regarding his respect for Miles. “He and my Dad were so similar, they played against each other in high school and they really are cut from the same cloth. When I came here to play for him, I realized quickly just how similar they were and when I later got the chance to begin coaching here, I just wanted to make him and Coach Donny Castle proud. Everything we do, one of the first thoughts that I have is that I just want to make both of them proud of our team, proud of what they built, and for us to continue it on.”
Since then, Carson has helped Northwest to 17 winning seasons, including nine with 30 wins or more. In 2007, he guided the Rangers to the NJCAA Division II World Series once again, marking the program’s most recent foray on the national tournament stage.
“I have been here a long time and to be here this long, you should have a lot of wins as a head coach,” Carson said. “I do wish we had a few more championships to go with it, but Northwest has been extremely good to me over the years. All three presidents that I have worked for – Dr. David Haraway, Dr. Gary Spears and Dr. Michael Heindl – have been tremendous and so supportive. This is a testimony to all of that. There is a lot of hard work that goes into this every day that a lot of people don’t see, so when I look at those things, I am very honored to be in this position.”
Business as usual
As the wins have continued to pile up this season, inching Carson closer and closer to the milestone, there has been little talk of it from the Rangers’ head coach.
Given his bond with both Castle and Miles, Carson has never looked to knock either coach down out of the record books. However, that doesn’t mean that it never came up in conversation.
“We talk a lot and stay in touch,” Carson said, on his relationship with both coaches. “It’s a great relationship and not one where we talk or see each other just occasionally. Coach Miles and I had talked about this a little bit before.”
After tying Miles’ record of 556 wins in a non-conference victory against East Mississippi on March 6, Carson’s teams were forced to open MACCC competition against two nationally-ranked opponents in Jones College and Pearl River. With neither series producing a win, the record 557th victory finally came on March 18 in a 7-6 contest at Mississippi Delta.
When the final out was recorded, Carson briefly spoke with his team and went right back to making the lineup for the second game, which also produced his 558th career win. Very few in attendance in Moorhead knew the significance of what had just happened.
However, some might argue that Carson prefers it that way, without the glitz or glamour. In his time coaching the Rangers, he has quietly put together what is now a 559-367-2 career record, doing so with the respect of many of his colleagues across the MACCC.
“A Day of Celebration”
Last Saturday finally presented the opportunity to celebrate Carson’s milestone. In what doubled as a reunion for that same 1996 NJCAA World Series team, the smell of barbecue and the sound of blues music surrounded the pregame ceremony prior to the Rangers’ doubleheader against Copiah-Lincoln.
Introduced by Dr. Heindl and flanked by his current Northwest team, Carson made the walk from the third base dugout to home plate, joining Miles and members of the 1996 squad. When Carson reached the plate, he was handed a commemorative bat inscribed with the occasion.
What happened next was a special, emotional moment between a former coach and player, now joined together as two coaching colleagues.
“There is no one else I’d rather have do this than you,” Miles whispered to Carson, while presenting him with the ceremonial bat.
“That really meant a lot to me,” Carson said, his voice slightly trembling. “It’s still humbling for me to even be in the same conversation as both coaches and I have so much respect for them. Like I said, he’s someone who I have long considered as a second Dad to me, and it is a huge honor to even be in the same position with them.”
Following the hoopla, Carson and the Rangers got back to the business of baseball. The first game ended in a close 9-8 loss, but Northwest responded back in a rally to win the second contest against Co-Lin by a 10-9 margin.
Long after all the players, parents and fans had exited Jim Miles Field after Saturday’s games, Carson sat alone in the Northwest dugout, weighing the entire day and making his plans for the Rangers’ next games.
With the milestone now in the past and the fanfare from Saturday’s celebration in the books, one thing is for certain – Northwest is back to business as usual and Mark Carson’s work is far from finished.
