WOOSTER, OH - Steve Moore, one of the most successful and respected college basketball coaches of all-time, is being honored by The College of Wooster, which announced the court in Timken Gymnasium will be dedicated as Steve Moore Court, thanks to the loyal support of alumni, parents, friends, and fans of the program. The official dedication will take place at a to be determined Wooster men's basketball home game this season. However, Steve Moore Court is already inscribed, as the court was refinished this summer and the artwork was updated to incorporate the College's new branding elements.
The naming of the court was made possible by the generosity of alumni, parents, friends, and fans who made gifts to establish the Steve Moore Endowment. The endowment will support all Fighting Scot student-athletes and may also be used to enhance Steve Moore Court and Timken Gymnasium, ensuring a positive experience for current and future generations of student-athletes and the fans who support them.
"It is an honor to have your name on a court," said Moore. "When a coach is honored, it is due to the accomplishments of the players. I wish the names of all of our players could be on the court, because the players won the games and championships. Many other people, including our entire coaching staff, our administration, the players' families, and our fans, have been instrumental in the success and culture of our program. It is a very good feeling to know that our players and others wanted this to happen."
Moore's remarkable 39-year record of 867-253 included an extraordinary mark of 780-188 in 33 seasons leading the Fighting Scots' program. He retired at the conclusion of the 2019-20 academic year and still ranks No. 2 all-time in NCAA Div. III coaching victories and 12th across all divisions of NCAA men's basketball. Under Moore, Wooster made 28 appearances in the NCAA Div. III Championships, headlined by advancing to the 2011 national championship game and the national semifinals in 2003 and 2007. Wooster qualified for the NCAA Div. III Championships in each of Moore's final 18 seasons on the bench, with that streak ranking as the longest in Div. III history and the seventh-longest all-time among all divisions of NCAA men's basketball.
Under Moore, Wooster became the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 2000s for much of the century. At present, Wooster ranks third overall and still holds the distinction of being the winningest NCAA Div. III team this century. Eighteen North Coast Athletic Conference championships were won by the Scots during Moore's tenure, while Wooster added 17 NCAC Tournament crowns to his impressive resume, and he capped his career with 24 consecutive 20-win seasons. Wooster players earned 21 All-America certificates under Moore, including five first-team National Association of Basketball Coaches laurels. Notable, Wooster is still the lone NCAA Div. III team of the 2000s with five different players voted a first-team NABC All-American. Alumnus Bryan Nelson was selected as the NABC Div. III Player of the Year in 2003, 10 Scots earned the NCAC Player of the Year prize, five were voted the conference's top newcomer, and 111 all-conference certificates were earned by Moore's Scots.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame nominee received the NABC's prestigious "Guardians of the Game" award for education in 2008 and he was a nine-time conference and five-time district coach of the year while at Wooster. Prior to taking over Wooster's program, Moore went 87-65 over six years at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. His career .774 winning percentage ranks him No. 2 within Div. III and in the top-25 in NCAA men's basketball.
In addition to his success on the court, Moore was – and still is – active with giving back to the basketball community. He served a four-year term on the prestigious NCAA rules committee, was a member of the NABC Congress, and served on the NABC ethics committee. With Moore helping coordinate, Wooster's program held – and continues to hold – several community service initiatives each year. Included among those are basketball skills clinics for local youth with canned food items and cash donations for People to People Ministries collected as admission, fundraisers for Coaches vs. Cancer, and encouraging fans to donate food and clothing for discounted admission at the program's annual Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic and E.M. "Mose" Hole/Wooster Kiwanis Classic, which benefit People to People Ministries and Goodwill Industries. Moore still teaches proper fundamentals of shooting at Camp Fighting Scot and he is a youth coach in the area for his grandson's team.
Moore is a member of The College of Wooster W Association Hall of Fame, Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, Wittenberg University Hall of Honor, Wayne County Athletic Hall of Fame, and Monroeville High School Hall of Fame. The court at Monroeville High School is also dedicated in Moore's honor.