MONTE CATER
Head Coach
Overall Record: 275-117-2 (70.1%)
Lakeland [WI] (1981-1986)
Shepherd [WV] (1987-2017)
 
As a two-way player in high school, Monte Cater looked up to head coach Merle Chapman. By the time Cater enrolled at Millikin College as a defensive back, Chapman was the Big Blue's defensive coordinator. And once Cater was ready to transition from the high school to the college coaching ranks, Chapman was the guy who took a chance on him as a Millikin offensive line coach. More than half a century later, those humble beginnings have landed Cater in the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
Cater is the first person affiliated with the Lakeland University (WI) or the Shepherd University (WV) programs to make the Hall, a testament to a 37-year head coaching career across the NAIA and Division II levels.
 
"I knew early on that I wanted to stay in football in some way," Cater said. "And after discovering that size and speed and a lot of things were going to keep me out of the NFL, coaching was going to be what I wanted. College is what you hope to eventually get to, and (Chapman) gave me that chance."
 
Cater turned around the Lakeland program, ushering the Muskies out of a 4-13 start his first two years and winning at least a share of the Illini-Badger Football Conference in three of his final four seasons. He went 30-24-1 in six years at the Plymouth, Wis., school. From there he went to Shepherd, where his 31-year run featured 11 postseason appearances and 16 seasons that ended with a national ranking. Cater's 2015 Shepherd team made it all the way to the national title game, falling to Northwest Missouri State.
 
"I would say one of the biggest wins was having a chance to beat Grand Valley State and get to the national championship, where we got our bottoms spanked," Cater said. "Northwest Missouri State had great success — they've won six national championships — but they showed us what the pinnacle was.
 
"But to have a chance to get a win like that and to get that (GVSU) win at home was huge. You remember a lot of losses; that's one of the things coaches have a tendency to remember more than wins sometimes. But that had to be the pinnacle of at least what I had a chance to be involved in."
 
By the time Cater retired after the 2017 season, he was the winningest active coach among all NCAA levels, posting 275 victories and winning more than 70 percent of his games. He coached 24 first-team All-Americans, was named conference coach of the year 13 times, won at least a share of 17 conference titles and had six undefeated regular seasons.
 
"It's very humbling, especially when you go ahead and look at the people that make up this class, and all classes," Cater said of the Hall honor. "This year has got its great ones in there, too, as far as the players and other coaches. John Luckhardt, one of the coaches that went in last year, called me. We played against each other when he was at California University of Pennsylvania.
 
"Just to be around them, those are people you would love to have an opportunity to talk with, let alone go in the same class as they are. It's a great situation."
 
Named conference coach of the year 13 times during his career, he won at least a share of 17 conference titles (13 WVIAC and 4 MEC), giving him the most victories and coaching titles in West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) history. His teams went undefeated in conference play 11 times, and he coached 182 First Team All-Conference players.
 
As Cater reflects on his Hall of Fame career, he thinks of the devotion of his wife, Bonnie, whom he met when he was at Lakeland, along with his two children, whose sacrifices along the way helped pave a career path that is now officially etched in college football history.
 
"There are so many people that you think about that you're involved with," Cater said. "Not just players — there are so many great, great players and that's why you do this stuff. But the people who are around the players and coaches, too. And if you've got great administrators — I was pretty lucky in that situation, too — to have those types of things be part of what you're doing professionally is special."
 
Cater has been inducted to the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame (2020), Shepherd Hall of Fame (2007) and the Millikin Athletics Hall of Fame (1999). He served as Shepherd's athletics director from 1993-2004, and he served as a member of the NCAA Division II Football Committee and the AFCA Board of Coaches.
 
UP CLOSE:

• Overall Record: 275-117-2 (70.1%), including 245-93-1 at Shepherd and 30-24-1 at Lakeland.
• Retired as the nation's winningest active football coach among all NCAA levels.  
• Led his teams to 13 postseason appearances, 16 entries in the final national rankings and a berth in the Division II championship game, finishing as the national runner-up in 2015.
• Coached 24 First Team All-America and 182 First Team All-Conference players, claiming honors as the conference coach of the year 13 times and the Vince Lombardi Foundation Coach of the Year in 2015.
• Becomes the first person from either Lakeland University (WI) or Shepherd University (WV) to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.