Head Coach Steve Moore

Phone: (330) 263-2176
e-mail: smoore@wooster.edu

Steve Moore is one of the most successful basketball coaches in NCAA Division III history, as evidenced by his 26-year career record of 554-173, including an extraordinary mark of 467-108 the past 20 years at The College of Wooster, which puts him No. 6 in wins among active coaches in Div. III (tied for 10th all-time).

The winningest coach at Wooster’s tradition-rich program, Moore has directed the Fighting Scots to 15 NCAA Tournament berths, 12 regular season North Coast Athletic Conference championships, and 10 NCAC Tournament titles, while compiling a winning percentage of .812.

Wooster’s recent stretch has been most impressive, as they’ve won 25 or more games seven times in the last nine seasons, highlighted by advancing to the Div. III “Final Four” in both 2002-03 and 2006-07, winning a school-record 30 games (30-3) the former. The Scots are currently the NCAA’s winningest team (all divisions) of the 2000s with a record of 209-33 (.864), and also of note, reached the “Elite Eight” of the NCAA tourney in 2003-04 and the “Sweet 16” in 1998-99 and 1999-00.

Moore came to Wooster just prior to the 1987-88 season, and his presence resulted in an immediate and dramatic impact on the program. Despite inheriting a team that had finished 8-18 the year before, Moore quickly transformed the Scots back into a winner. Wooster improved to 14-11 the very next year – the first of 20 consecutive winning seasons – including an average of 23 wins per year during the 1990s.

For his efforts, Moore has been named NCAC Coach of the Year on seven occasions (1990-91, 1991-92, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2002-03, 2006-07) and the NABC District Coach of the Year for the Great Lakes Region four times (1990-91, 1999-00, 2002-03, 2006-07).

Moore, 55, has had the magic touch throughout his coaching career, as he owns a career win percentage of .762, ranking him No. 2 in that category among active coaches in Division III (No. 2 all-time, only behind current Univ. of Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan).

Prior to coming to Wooster, Moore guided Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., to successive Middle Atlantic Conference titles in the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons. Other highlights for Moore during his time with the Mules included leading Muhlenberg to its first 20-win season in 40 years in 1985-86 and being selected as the MAC Southern Division Coach of the Year in 1983.

From 1976-81, Moore served as an assistant coach at his alma mater – Wittenberg University. During that five-year period, he helped lead the Tigers to four regular season Ohio Athletic Conference championships, two OAC Tournament titles, and a national championship in 1977.

A native of Monroeville, Ohio, Moore was a standout on Wittenberg’s basketball team in the early 1970s. The three-year letterwinner was part of three-straight OAC championship teams, including 1974 when he was a team captain and the starting point guard.

Following graduation from Wittenberg in 1974, he earned a master’s degree in physical education from Ohio University in 1976, while serving as a graduate assistant coach in basketball for the Bobcats.

Steve and his wife, Jane, reside in Wooster, and have two daughters. Beth, a 2003 Wooster graduate and four-year setter for the Scots’ volleyball team, is employed as a school psychologist in the Clyde school district. Emily earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Wooster in 2005 while running on the Scots’ cross country and track teams, and is now taking postgraduate classes at the University of Akron.