Coach Carter is a 2005 film
Based on a True Story about a high-school basketball coach who demanded academic excellence from his students, trying to change the culture of a sports-dominated school. He was so determined that when the team's grades slipped he cancelled the team's games outright, including one with a rival school, despite protests from the other students and the parents. Think
Lean On Me but with a basketball team and
Sam Jackson.
Tropes featured include:
- Adults Are Useless: Unless they are Coach Carter. The film plays this trope pretty straight, but eventually the parents come around.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Coach Carter berates the team for losing control at a party, one of them asks him that they won the game so what else did he want from them, which makes him realize that they were not understanding the values he was trying to teach them alongside the plays.
- Badass Teacher: Coach Carter. At the start, he wasn't taking any attitude from the team and called them out on their fall-backs, such as using the N-Word, taunting during the game, etc. He managed to whip his team into shape thanks to this and has turned them into successful men at the very end.
- Bittersweet Ending: the team loses the last game, but the solidarity that they gained means more than winning. In addition, many of the team members went on to college and had successful lives.
- Class Clown: Worm.
- Delinquents: How the team is viewed, but Carter finds out that they just need some guidance and someone to think that they can do better than what is expected of them.
- Deadpan Snarker: Coach Carter, but that's no surprise.
- The Determinator: Surprisingly, Timo.
- Down To The Last Play
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Junior and his mother.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Nick Fury had to start somewhere before he could recruit a team of superheroes and become the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Who knew Duke could hoop it up?
- Jerk Ass: Most of the team, at first. They get better.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Timo. Sure, he's an arrogant hothead, but most of it is to mask his fear of becoming great.
- Large Ham: Samuel L. Jackson himself.
- Mama Bear: Junior's mother. Justified because her other son lost his life and so she became incredibly protective of Junior as a result.
- Meaningful Echo: "What is your deepest fear?"
- N-Word Privileges: Deconstructed by Coach Carter in a rather eloquent speech.
- Papa Wolf: Coach Carter in regards to his team.
- Save Our Students
- Scary Black Man: Samuel Jackson again!
- So Proud of You: Despite losing the final match,Coach Carter says this to his team for playing a hard-fought game, doing the impossible, and achieving victory within.
- Sucky School: Unbelievably so, and with a principal to match.
- Token Minority: In this film, it's actually a white character on the basketball team, Jason, played by Channing Tatum.
- Training from Hell
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