On Tuesday, members of the NC State women’s basketball team and second-year Head Coach Wes Moore addressed the press during the club’s annual media day.
Fresh off of his first season as head coach at NC State, Moore has already made a name for himself at the university.
Under Moore’s tutelage, the Wolfpack finished the 2014 season with a record of 25-8, the team’s best since 1998. The team also impressed in the ACC, recording an 11-5 mark despite being projected to finish tenth in the conference.
Moore’s quick success can be attributed to his long history of winning at the collegiate level. Before signing with NCSU in the spring of 2013, Moore spent 15 years in Chattanooga as the head coach of the Lady Moccasins.
During his time with Chattanooga, Moore enjoyed 13 seasons of 20-plus wins and compiled an outstanding winning percentage of .767.
In the Southern Conference, the Lady Mocs went 241-43 under Moore and won 11 consecutive conference titles, 12 in total. The coach also led his team to nine NCAA Tournament berths. For his triumphs, Moore was awarded Conference Coach of the Year awards six times.
Moore did not just dominate his conference, but also recorded a few signature wins along the way. In 2004, the Lady Mocs upset seventh-seeded Rutgers to give Chattanooga its first ever appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In 2012, his last season in Chattanooga, Moore recorded his first ever win over a ranked opponent when his team toppled perennial powerhouse No. 20 Tennessee.
Moore was able to earn four additional top-25 wins in his first season at State and put his team in the polls, as well. At season’s end, the Pack was ranked No. 16 in the nation.
“Last year was a phenomenal way to start back here at NC State,” Moore said. “I was very fortunate to inherit five seniors that were very talented and were willing to buy into a new staff and a new philosophy. We had some great wins along the way against some great teams.”
This season, Moore will have the unique challenge of rebuilding the team that he worked so hard to put together last season.
“We have new challenges ahead of us,” Moore said. “That’s the thing about college athletics, we’re here to help these kids earn a degree and help them prepare not just for the next four years that they’re here but the next 40 years.”
According to Moore, the biggest challenge for the Pack will be determining minutes for the post positions. The departures of senior post players Markeisha Gatling, Kody Burke and Lakeesa Daniel have left the Pack’s interior spots up for grabs.
“At the four and five position, we have mostly new players,” Moore said. “That will be the big challenge for us to figure out who can come in learn the system and adjust to this level of basketball to help us be successful. When you take Kody Burke and Markeisha Gatling, two players drafted in the WNBA with Keisha being a top-10 pick, that’s some big shoes to fill.”
However, working with fresh faces is a task Moore is accustomed to. The coach said that as a first-year coach last season, “It was almost like having 13 or 14 freshmen,” as most players were not familiar with his system.
This season, however, Moore says that he looks forward to working in conjunction with his returning players to get the newer members of the team adjusted more quickly.
“It’s almost like having extra assistant coaches, because they can help the younger players with drills,” Moore said. “When you’re introducing something, you can put those veterans out there first and show the young kids how it works.”
Moore and the Pack will kick off the 2015 season with an exhibition game against Lenoir-Rhyne on Nov. 7 at Reynolds Coliseum.
