St .James' Card calls it a career after 40 years

Coach Nigel Card is stepping down from at St. James after 40 years combined teaching and coaching at the high school and collegiate level. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Calling it quits after doing something you’ve done for most of your life is never easy.

St. James boys basketball coach Nigel Card thought about retiring after the 2023 season, but decided to return and take his familiar position on the baseline for girls basketball to watch his daughter Ava and on the bench for boys basketball along with his two brothers as assistant coaches.

“My wife asked me, ‘Don’t you want to sit back and enjoy Ava’s senior year?’” Card said. “And I said I’ll still enjoy it because I’ll be right there, so I might as well work. So I came back this year. I really didn’t anticipate that the team wouldn’t be as good as they’ve been (in the past). I think the more I got into the season, the more the decision became clearer to me that it was time to move on.”

Card, who has spent more than 40 years teaching and coaching players at the high school and collegiate level, decided to retire after the 2024 season. But he admits it isn’t easy walking away from an established program that just suffered through a 1-14 season.

“It’s hard,” he said. “To be honest with you, I sometimes contemplate whether this is the right thing to do at this time.

“My first meeting with the headmaster, I was laying out some things that I thought needed to be addressed in order for the program to find more success. There are some things that I felt I couldn’t resolve because of my age. I think the older you get, your community connection is not as effective. When I first came here, the reputation and the excitement of me being here helped lure some kids this way.”

When Card arrived at St. James, he had already been coaching for a quarter of a century. A graduate of Auburn High, he broke into coaching at Greenville Middle School in the mid-1980s for a couple of year, went to Jeff Davis Community College for two years, then became an assistant men’s basketball coach under Larry Chapman for the next 23 years at Auburn University Montgomery.

He thought it might be time to strike out on his own when he heard about a coaching vacancy at St. James.

“When I first got here, I knew nothing about St. James’ basketball program,” Card said. “I had never come over to recruit a kid from St. James. My first meeting with the team, I was like, ‘Really?’ And those years were difficult. You’re taking a collegiate coach who’s extremely competitive in what he does and you’re putting him in high school, where I had to deal with all these outside things.

“But the support I received from the administration made all the difference in the world.”

Administrators quickly moved him out of the classroom, where he felt a little uncomfortable, into the physical education department, where he could “see them daily as they were growing up.” When he became head coach of the Trojans in 2010-11, the team was on its seventh consecutive losing season.

By the second year, C.J. Duncan was second team all-state. He was followed by Jaylen McCoy, who was Class 4A Player of the Year in 2015; nephew EJ Card, who was second team all-state in 2016; Damien Madison , who was third team all-state in 2018; and Bradley Thomas, who was second team all-state in 2022.

 “It turned pretty quickly,” Card said. “From my understanding, they had had only one all-state player and that was Robb McGaughey. Since that time, we’ve had several. Those kids really elevated the program. We gave them some opportunities to win some games. We didn’t win as many games as I felt like we wanted to win, but we were respectable. I think what I brought was a team that will compete every night. And I think my opponents knew that my team would play hard and compete.”

Five of the Trojans’ six regional trips have been under Card’s watch, including a trip to the regional finals in 2015 and the school’s only trip to the state tournament in 2022.

 “Nigel has done amazing things here,” said athletic director Katie Barton. “He is the winningest boys’ coach in our school’s history. When he came in, we weren’t as competitive as we could have been and he really turned that around. He got the boys into the regionals, ended up being very competitive in the city every time they stepped on the court and took them to the Final Four, which was a history-making thing for our school.

“His mind for basketball is remarkable for what he can do and the positions he can put his players in to be successful. We’re going to miss Nigel. I appreciate everything he’s done and appreciate his friendship. I’ve known him ever since 1996 when I was a freshman at AUM and he was the assistant men’s coach.”

Card is thankful for the support from the school and its administrators, noting that his daughter Ava came to the school with no interest in basketball and left as the third leading scorer in River Region history.

“It’s been really, really great for my family,” Card said. “When I brought my daughter over here to go to school -- a soccer player who never wanted to play basketball because her sister had played volleyball and soccer -- Katie influenced her to come out for the basketball team. She scored her first basket or two and the light goes off.

“She got a great education, she secured a Division I-A scholarship, so it’s been great for me because it’s been great for my family. When I made the decision to leave AUM, it was for my family because the resources were not going to be enough to raise a family. I had a chance to go a lot of places but I wanted to stay in Montgomery.” 

The search has already started for Card’s replacement, but it won’t be easy filling his shoes.

“The process is very similar to football,” said Larry McLemore, head of school. “We’re receiving applications right now and we really have the same criteria when we’re looking for any role -- we want to find the best person for that role and that’s defined by our mission and the Trojan values of character, commitment, courage and community. And, of course, expertise in their field.”

Card, thinking back on the program he inherited and the one he leaves behind, said the new basketball coach will have to embrace the basketball community to broaden the reach of the program.

“I started the varsity season (late because of the football team advancing to the semifinals of the state playoffs) after one day of practice with five kids,” he said. “And I played several games after that with five. Then I slowly added some kids to make a team. I look at other programs and they’ve got so many on the bench. And I’m saying, ‘I don’t need these extra chairs down here.’ This (academic setting) is difficult and we miss out on some kids. When you don’t have the opportunity to bring competitive kids in the younger age groups so you can build them, then it becomes extremely difficult.”