This year ESPN will be focusing in all year on the Triangle for women’s basketball with lots of in-depth coverage of new coach Wes Moore and his first Wolfpack team. In addition, ESPN will be covering closely the other two teams in Triangle.
Moore fit the bill for what the Wolfpack need right now: Someone with a long history of success, a real understanding of how to build (or re-build) a program, and who had a reasonable salary demand. Also, he had worked as an assistant for Kay Yow at NC State from 1993-95.
“His passion for the game has been shown over many years,” Deborah Yow said. “He had a proven track record.”
I found that quote interesting about the reasonable salary demand. That is just an interesting statement for the article. That jumped out at me.
During his interview dinner with Deborah Yow, Moore flat-out asked if she was going to offer him the job. She had to laugh; it was the kind of “let’s-just-cut-to-the-chase” question she thought most candidates might think, but not ask.
She reminded him of the obvious: This program was like the child of her late sister, who ran it for more than three decades. This hire was deeply personal for her. But she was also the businesswoman that she had to be as athletic director. She would need to give it more thought.
I like how much of a straight shooter he sounds like in the interview. I hope that the old adage of it is better to the the coach that replaces the coach who replaced the legend than the coach who replaced the legend. I look forward to what Coach Moore can do. I will be curious to see how recruiting goes for Moore and how fast it will take the Wolfpack to get back to the top of women’s basketball, first in the conference and hopefully nationally soon after.
