The 2017-18 season marks Tom Moore's first year as an assistant coach on Dan Hurley's staff.
Well respected in the college basketball ranks, Moore comes to Rhode Island after 10 seasons as the head coach at Quinnipiac. During his time there, Moore had a record of 162-146, including an unprecedented 23 victories in 2009-10, guiding the Bobcats to the program’s first-ever NEC Regular Season Championship and national postseason tournament berth (NIT). Justin Rutty was named the program’s first-ever NEC Player of the Year. Rutty and James Feldeine were also named to the all-league first team. A year later, Moore led the Bobcats to a 22-10 record and a home game in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Rutty was named to the All-NEC First Team for the third straight year, while James Johnson joined him among the league’s top five players, giving Moore back-to-back years with a pair of All-NEC First Team members. In the 2011-12 season, Moore spearheaded the Bobcats to an 18-14 record and a trip to the CBI Postseason Tournament. James Johnson and Ike Azotam were selected to the All-NEC Second Team, while Ousmane Drame was named to the All-NEC Rookie Team. Drame became Quinnipiac’s all-time freshman leader in rebounds and blocked shots in his rookie season.
Overall, Moore led the Bobcats to three straight national postseason appearances (NIT, CIT, and CBI) from 2009 to 2011, and then a fourth postseason appearance with his second bid to the CIT in 2014. He was named the CollegeInsider.com Northeast Conference Coach of the Year in 2009, Jim Phelan Northeast Conference Coach of the Year in 2010, and was selected to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2013.
In its final season as a member of the Northeast Conference in 2012-13, Quinnipiac made its eighth straight appearance in the NEC Tournament. Quinnipiac earned 10 or more regular season wins in all six seasons – a distinction that no other NEC team shared with the Bobcats. He was 70-38 during his stint with the NEC, which ranked him eighth all-time in winning percentage among coaches with multiple seasons at an NEC institution. Azotam was named all-league for the second straight year, making the Bobcats one of three schools to place a player on the all-conference team in each of those seasons.
Moore and the Bobcats opened a new chapter in 2013-14, playing their first season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), and had similar success. The Bobcats posted a 20-12 record, its third 20-win season in five years, and notched a 14-6 mark in MAAC play. Quinnipiac garnered third place in the league standings and advanced to the MAAC Tournament Semifinals – its fifth conference semifinals appearance in the last six years. The 20-win season was rewarded with a bid into the CIT Tournament.
Three student-athletes – Ike Azotam, Ousmane Drame and Zaid Hearst – collected All-MAAC laurels at season’s end. Azotam was bombarded with accolades including being named to the USBWA All-District Team, the first player in program history to earn that distinction. Azotam closed out his career with 1,043 rebounds and 1,605 points, joining Rutty as the second 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player since 2011. Drame followed suit in 2014-15 and became the third player under Moore to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, setting new Division I records for blocks and rebounds. Hearst (first team) and Drame (second team) both earned All-MAAC selections after their senior seasons as well.
In the classroom, Moore led the greatest turnaround of any team in NCAA Division I during his first three years as head coach. According to a study prepared by FoxSports.com’s Jason Belzer, the Bobcats increased their Academic Progress Rate (APR), as compiled by the NCAA, by 219 points, more than any other program in the nation in that time. Over the last eight years, Quinnipiac has boasted tremendous success academically among teams in the NEC and the MAAC as well. At the end of the 2010-11 school year, the Bobcats accumulated the highest team GPA in the league, and recently earned the NABC Team Excellence Award with a 3.2 collective team GPA for the 2013-14 season.
Before going to Quinnipiac, Moore spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach at Connecticut. During his time in Storrs, Conn., Moore helped build UConn into a national powerhouse and played a major role in guiding the Huskies to the 1999 and 2004 NCAA Division I Men's National Championships. Under head coach Jim Calhoun, Moore also helped lead perennially nationally-ranked UConn to a 340-99 overall record in 13 seasons, as well as eight Big East regular-season titles, five Big East tournament crowns, and 12 straight national postseason tournament bids (1995-2006).
Recognized as one of the top recruiters and evaluators of talent in the country, Moore either recruited or coached numerous NBA players, including: Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Rudy Gay, Caron Butler, Charlie Villanueva, Marcus Williams, Jake Voskuhl, Kevin Ollie, Hilton Armstrong and Josh Boone.
During his two decades as an assistant or head coach at the collegiate level, Moore has assembled a combined career mark of 603-333 (.644). Prior to joining the staff at UConn, Moore served as the head coach at Worcester State College for five seasons (1989-94). At the time of his appointment there, he became the youngest (24 years old) head coach of a collegiate program in New England.
In his five years at the helm of the Lancers, Moore compiled a record of 76-59, the winningest five-year period in the school's history. His 1992-93 club was named the region's Most Improved Team by the New England Basketball Coaches Association and earned an ECAC Tournament berth. A year later, the 1993-94 team earned a spot in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
Moore also has coaching experience as an assistant at Division II Assumption College (1988-89) and Worcester State (1987-88).
A 1987 graduate of Boston University, Moore and his wife, Eileen, have three daughters, Elizabeth Rose, Catherine Grace, and Caroline Mary.
