Following his playing career, Carpenter coached during the 1960s in the CFL, NFL and a variety of smaller leagues in the United States.

He led the Western Interprovincial Football Union in scoring in 1955 and won the division's most valuable player award.

[4] It was the third-best total in the Pacific Coast Conference and the first time an Oregon State player had eclipsed 1,000 yards of rushing.

[5] The Cleveland Browns of the NFL selected Carpenter in the first round of the 1950 draft, making him their first pick since joining the league after the dissolution of the old All-America Football Conference.

[6][7] Cleveland ended the regular season with a 10–2 record in Carpenter's rookie year and won the NFL championship.

[12] With the Browns, Carpenter played as a halfback opposite Dub Jones as part of an offense that featured quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and ends Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli.

[13] He helped replenish Cleveland's backfield following the retirement of Edgar Jones, Bill Boedeker and Ara Parseghian after the 1949 season.

[14] Carpenter, who had been a second-string halfback to Ray Renfro in the 1953 season, decided to jump to the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1954, signing with the Saskatchewan Roughriders that June.

[19] His 18 touchdowns for 90 points were set a WIFU record and won him the Dave Dryburgh Memorial Trophy, given to the west's top scorer.

[17] He was limited mostly to receiving the following year after the Roughriders acquired halfback Cookie Gilchrist, but he was nevertheless named a WIFU all-star again as an end.

[26] He spent most of the 1960s coaching in the UFL and CFL, a pair of smaller leagues that struggled to compete with the NFL and AFL.

[1] He left that job the following year and was coach of the Jersey Tigers in the minor-league Atlantic Coast Football League for two seasons.