ESPN Celebrates 16th Anniversary of Coach Carter

ESPN is celebrating the 16th anniversary of Coach Carter. Marvel star Samuel L. Jackson plays Ken Carter, the inspirational head coach of richmond High School. He jumped into the national spotlight for suspending his players when they didn't perform up to his standard academically. Fan favorites like Channing Tatum, Ashanti, Robert Ri'chard, and Octavia Spencer all star in the film. It's one of those titles that you can't help but linger once when you flip by it on television. Carter's influence continues to resonate through the present day as stories of coaches employing similar tactics when their teams needed a spark. ESPN actually made use of the movie and others like it during last summer's sports hiatus. With programming time to fill, the network turned to sports films to fill those gaps. It was a good strategy and netted their outfit outsized ratings. (Before factoring in documentaries like The Last Dance.) Check out what ESPN said about it back then down below:

"I came to coach basketball players, and you became students. l came to teach boys, and you became men."

16 years ago today, we were introduced to the story of "Coach Carter." pic.twitter.com/0hfIHng7se

— ESPN (@espn) January 13, 2021

"ESPN continues to bring sports content to its viewers and fans, adding four more sports films to its programming schedule next week, beginning with the TV premiere of "Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams" on Monday, June 29th at 7pm ET. The film, an international co-production between Cineric Creative, NHK, and NHK Enterprises, follows coaches and players in Japan's historic 100th National High School Baseball Tournament, including the alma mater of Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi."

"Immediately following, at 9pm on June 29th, is the world premiere of "EDDIE," a documentary on Hall of Fame basketball coach Eddie Sutton, from 1577 Production in association with Takashi Entertainment. "Finding Big Country," a film, from Big Country Studios, will air on Wednesday, July 1st at 8pm ET. The film follows a superfan of the Vancouver Grizzlies who searches for her childhood hero, the maligned and reclusive former NBA player Big Country Bryant Reeves. And the world premiere of "Born to Play," from Park Pictures, documenting the Boston Renegades of the female tackle football league, will follow on July 1st at 9pm ET."

What's your favorite Samuel L. Jackson role? Let us know down in the comments! Check out the reactions down below: