Former Millikin Player Monte Cater Selected for College Football Hall of Fame

Former Millikin University football player and coach Monte Cater has been selected for the 2023 class of the College Football Hall of Fame.

After graduating from Millikin in 1971, Cater went on to a stellar football coaching career. Cater started coaching at as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator for the Big Blue. Millikin was 28-8 while Cater was on the Big Blue staff.

Cater began his collegiate head coaching career at Lakeland College in Wisconsin where he had a record of 30-24-1. Most of Cater's success came at NCAA Division II's Shepard University where he coach for 31 years returning following the 2017 season.

When he retired, Cater was the nation's winningest active football coach among all NCAA levels, earning wins in more than 70 percent of his games and notching a total of 275 victories. Cater's teams made 13 postseason appearances (NAIA – 2, Division II – 11) during his career, and his teams appeared 16 times in the final national rankings. In 2015, he led Shepherd to the Division II championship game, finishing as the national runner-up. His teams claimed three Super Region One titles, and Shepherd led the nation in rush defense from 2011-2014. He coached 24 First Team All-America players, including 2007 Division II Rimington Award winner Ryan Pope, and he was named the Vince Lombardi Foundation Coach of the Year in 2015. 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.

Cater had only four losing seasons in his 31 years at Shepherd, and he posted winning records during each of his final 14 years with the Rams. He posted six undefeated regular seasons, including his last three from 2015-17, and his 245-93-1 (.724) record in 31 seasons at Shepherd makes him the winningest coach in school history.

Cater, a Shelbyville, Illinois native, was inducted into the Millikin University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame at the 65th National Football Foundation's Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5, 2023 in Las Vegas.

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