By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Whenever the young folks ask West Rowan graduate Donte Minter how good a basketball player he was, he can truthfully tell them he outscored Stephen Curry twice during their college days.

Minter’s Appalachian State Mountaineers and Curry’s Davidson Wildcats met in Southern Conference contests in 2006-07 and 2007-08. They played twice on Curry’s home court at Belk Arena. Minter held a slim scoring advantage in those match-ups: 16-15 and 19-18.

Minter shot 7-for-11 and 7-for-10 as App State won one and lost one against one of the greatest shooters of all-time. That’s who Minter was. Smooth, efficient, strong and left-handed, he was a marvelously high-percentage option who operated close to the rim. He didn’t stretch defenses, but he made defenses collapse on him. He was like an All-Pro football nose guard, always forcing a double team.

As a junior, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound Minter shot 64.2 percent from the field to lead the Southern Conference. As a senior, he shot 59.4 percent, but he got more minutes and more shots, so he made the All-Southern Conference team. He averaged 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds as a junior and 13.9 points and 6.0 rebounds as a senior.

App State was supposed to be cannon fodder in the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico in December 2006. But the Mountaineers won that tournament, beating Virginia, Central Florida and Vanderbilt. That Vanderbilt game for the tourney championship, the first time App State ever won against the SEC, went into overtime. Minter was Minter. He shot 11-for-15 and scored 27 points.

A few months after App State’s football team won at Michigan in 2007, the App State basketball team shocked the world by winning at Arkansas in front of 10,835 fans. Minter stuffed the sheet — 9-for-11 for 20 points, plus nine rebounds, six blocks, six steals and six assists.

While he always made it look easy on the hardwood, that doesn’t mean it always was. He overcame a lot to be successful as a Division I player. He saw frustrating days as well as good ones. That’s one of the things that makes him a good coach.

Recently, the 40-year-old Minter, born on New Year’s Day 1984, was chosen to lead a college program for the first time. He was hired as the head coach of the Regent University women’s team. Regent is a 13,000-student school in Virginia Beach, Va., that is making a transition to NCAA Division III.

“I made a call about the Regent men’s basketball job on behalf of a coaching friend,” Minter said. “They told me they already had filled the men’s position, but they were looking for a women’s coach. They wanted to know if I was interested. I was and I ended up being offered the job. It just kind of fell into my lap.”

Regent administrators already knew Minter because he had been an assistant coach at the school prior to taking an assistant position with Livingstone’s women’s program for the 2023-24 season.

“People asked me if it wasn’t a step back from Division II (Livingstone) to Division III, but this is a chance to lead a program and to make a difference in the lives of a lot of young people,” Minter said. “I’ve got strong ties to the state of Virginia and Virginia Beach, and it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.”

Minter, who was inducted into the Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Fame in 2017, was an All-State high school player and a key component of a West Rowan dynasty. Minter and Scooter Sherrill are legendary Falcons from that 2000 period. Both won a state championship, but while they played together for two seasons, they never won state as teammates. Sherrill won a 2A title in 1997 as a freshman, when Bob Shipwash was the head coach. Minter was a 3A state champ as a senior in 2002 when West went undefeated for coach Mike Gurley.

“Not many people know this, but my senior year at West I played one-on-one against (former Salisbury High and Providence College standout) Fred Campbell before every game,” Minter said. “Fred was as tall as me and he could really shoot. Those games with him helped me.”

Sherrill scored 2,469 points from 1996-07 to 1999-2000. From the 1998-1999 season through the 2001-2002 season, Minter scored 2,087 points.

“What’s special about 2,000, looking back, is that not only did I score 2,000, I played with a teammate who scored 2,000,” Minter said.  “You don’t see many teammates on the 2,000 list.”

Membership in the 2,000 club is still rare enough that the NCHSAA maintains a list, although the list needs to be updated to show Juke Harris’ scoring feats at Salisbury last season. You can find Minter on that list. Right below him, you’ll see famous guys like Rocky Mount’s Phil Ford and Kinston’s Jerry Stackhouse.

The number that matters more than 2,087 to Minter is 109-11. That was the record of the West Rowan teams he played for. Twenty-nine of those 2,087 came during West’s victory in the 2002 3A title game.

Minter averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds as a junior and was being recruited by mid-majors — College of Charleston, Old Dominion, UNC Wilmington, Dayton and App State.

Then he averaged 22.6 points as a West senior.

After graduating from high school, Minter played a season at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds, and making a man-child to grown man transition with the discipline instilled at FUMA. By then, Minter was coveted by major powers.

Virginia landed him. He played a decent amount for the Cavaliers as a freshman, shot 56 percent from the field, even started a few games, but his minutes were usually modest. As a sophomore, he suffered a knee injury, dropped out of the rotation, and was labeled by some fans as a bust.

But he would prove himself once he got healthy.

There was no transfer portal in those days, so when Minter made the decision to exit Virginia for Appalachian State, he had to sit out a season. When he returned in 2006-07, he was terrific. He was a difference-maker. App State won 25 games his first season and played in the NIT.

Minter’s degree from App State is in criminal justice, but the coaching bug started to chew on him whenever he volunteered to help with camps or clinics.

Years ago, he came back to Salisbury to hold summer basketball camps at Hall Gym. He remembers those youngsters fondly. Some grew up to become stars in the Class of 2024. He remembers Harris. He remembers Brittany Ellis. He remembers the Goodlett twins, Bailee and Bloom. He remembers Lauren Arnold, who won two state titles at West Rowan, earned a scholarship to Mars Hill and will play in the East-West All-Star Game in Greensboro on Monday. Minter still remembers first-hand what a thrill playing in the East-West All-Star Game was.

“Those Hall Gym camps for kids let me know I wanted to coach full-time,” Minter said. “Lots of young players wanted to learn and were receptive to what we were hoping to teach them about the game and about life.”

Some of Minter’s life experiences have come from outside the USA.  Before his big body started to wear down, he played professionally in Europe for five seasons in Germany, Spain, Holland and Portugal. In Holland, he was reunited with former West Rowan teammate Junior Hairston. They had a special chemistry and led their team to legendary victories. Minter enjoyed a 33-point game in Portugal and was an all-star.

Officially, Minter’s coaching career began at Virginia’s Woodside High School in 2012. He also coached at Salem High and Norfolk Christian School before entering the college ranks as an assistant at Regent and then Livingstone.

And now he’s got a program to run.

“When I was an assistant at Regent, there was a season we finished with just five women because of injuries,” Minter said. “We weren’t good at all, but they never complained and they kept playing hard, and I realized how much I enjoyed coaching women. Basketball is a great game. It’s treated me well, and I’m here to build a program and give back all that I can.”

Last month, Minter announced the hiring of James Butts as an assistant. Butts is a local youth basketball icon. They have been recruiting. Minter is excited about the upcoming season.

“It’s a great basketball area,” he said. “We’re going to get players. Every city around here has 20 or 30 ladies who can play.”