NC State women’s basketball head coach Wes Moore is in his seventh season with the Wolfpack, posting a 151-58 record in Raleigh. Before making the move back to the ACC, Moore led the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1998-2013. NC State has now beaten his former team in back-to-back seasons.
At Chattanooga, Moore took the Mocs to nine NCAA tournaments in 15 seasons and the WNIT four times. During that time, Chattanooga won 12 Southern Conference regular-season titles and nine SoCon tournament championships. Current head coach Katie Burrows was on staff with Moore in his time there.
“Katie was probably my first recruit at UT Chattanooga … and now she’s inherited a tough situation as far as, a lot of the players have graduated and they’re kind of starting over, but she’s been upbeat, positive,” Moore said. “I was able to pick her up and bring her over to campus for a little while today and visit, and she realizes at that level, the conference play and conference tournament is what matters. Hopefully, she’ll keep that going.”
In 2013, former Director of Athletics Debbie Yow hired Moore, bringing him back to NC State for the first time since he was an assistant coach from 1993-1995, but after 15 seasons in Chattanooga, it couldn’t have been an easy decision.
“Ka’Vonne Towns, one of the assistants, played for me as well, and then sports information director, radio, assistant AD,” Moore said. “I saw a lot of people that really meant a lot to me and UTC, and Chattanooga is a place I’ll always love, so I wish them the best.”
On the court, Moore has shown no mercy, as the Pack has outscored Chattanooga 152-96 in the last two seasons.
“[Moore] didn’t say anything specific,” said freshman forward Jada Boyd. “But as his team, we knew that coming out here and trying to beat his former team would be important to him, so we just came out and made him proud.”
Moore’s first few seasons as head coach at NC State have been impressive, taking the team to back-to-back Sweet 16s. It’s yet to be seen how his legacy will impact the program, but one thing is for sure: NC State is lucky to have him as head coach.
