It is hard to believe it is already our 10th episode and 9th neighbor interview. It was my complete honor to interview the Legendary Coach, Wes Moore.   

Coach Wes Moore was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. His mom raised him and his two older sisters.  He could be found playing whatever sport was in season until it got dark outside.  Then college brought him to the state of Tennessee where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.  He is married to Linda, a former Miss North Carolina contestant and absolutely the sweetest woman you would ever want to meet.  

Coach Moore was named the 4th Head Coach in the program history of the North Carolina State University, Women’s Basketball team on April 4th, 2013.  In his seven years coaching the Wolfpack women, he has achieved numerous accolades including a 73% winning record, 4 NCAA tournament appearances, and most recently Coach Moore led the NC State Wolfpack to become the ACC Tournament Title Champs.  This was the program’s first conference tournament championship in 29 years.  Prior to his time at NC State, Coach Moore racked up more stats as a coach in South Carolina and Tennessee.   Coach Moore has been a head coach for 31 years and 12 of those years received “Coach of the Year” honors including the 2019 Associated Press National Coach of the Year Runner-Up. He was the only coach in NCAA history, to take three different teams to a national tournament, at each NCAA level…Division I, Division II, and Division III.

I truly appreciated the conversation and hated to see it come to an end.  Coach Moore is such an inspiration. He is a powerful, articulate, and dynamic speaker. He taught me so much about him, his profession, and life in general.   We are delighted to have them as part of the 12 Oaks family for the past 7 years and hopefully many more to come.  

In This Episode:

• [01:34] Welcome Coach Wes Moore our 9th “P” in the pod[cast]. 
• [01:45] Coach Moore was named as the 4th Head Coach in program history, of the North Carolina State University, Women’s Basketball team, on April 4th, 2013. 
• [02:42] Most recently, Coach Moore led the NC State Wolfpack Women, to the 2020, ACC Tournament Title. This was the program’s first conference tournament championship in 29 years. 
• [04:47] Coach Moore has been a Head Coach for 31 years. He has 12 “Coach of the Year” honors and the 2019 Associated Press National Coach of the Year, Runner-Up.
• [05:04] Coach Moore was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Tennessee.  
• [07:12] Coach Moore had a great childhood, his mom raised him and his two older sisters.  
• [08:36] He shares his motivation and reasoning for going to college.  
• [10:10] Coach Moore had a great influence by being around Pat Summit.  
• [11:27] The biggest influence was his mom made sure they were in church on Sundays. By being involved in the church, Royal Ambassadors, and sports his friends were all from families that have good values and created lifelong friendships.  
• [13:54] Coach Moore shares the story about the older gentleman walking along the beach, picking up things and throwing them in the ocean.    
• [15:24] Wendell shares about some of the teachers that made a huge impact on his life. 
• [16:39] Coach Moore pursued a career in coaching because he loved sports his entire life. 
• [17:37] Why did you choose to coach Women’s Basketball?
• [20:19] Coach Moore always tries to recruit character.  The off the court character needs to be something they want to bring in their locker room.  They try to recruit high character people that are going to work hard on and off the court.  
• [22:18] During the pandemic, we have been doing Zoom calls with recruits and parents.  We are also having weekly Zoom calls with the athletic department as well as with staff.  
• [24:42] As a head coach, where do you see yourself and your program in the next five to ten years?
• [26:30] Our team has a lot of momentum this year and a lot of things to be excited about as well as a lot of work to do.  
• [26:51] Our team had the opportunity to host the first and second-round games the last two years for being one of the top 16 seeds in the country. 
• [28:44] Coach Moore was the only coach in NCAA history, to take three different teams to a national tournament at each NCAA level…Division I, Division II, and Division III.
• [29:48] Coach Moore shares how and where he met Linda. 
• [32:22] What is a normal “day-in-the-life” of Coach Moore as the husband and Head Coach prior to this pandemic? 
• [34:42] Film watching is what consumes most of the basketball season from November  until March every night.  
• [37:16] Why did you choose to live in 12 Oaks? 
• [38:28] He loves the lot they chose and the view from the 14th hole.  
• [40:02] Coach Moore shares something that is true, but almost no one agrees with him about.  
• [42:00] What is Coach Moore most proud of? 
• [43:39] If you had a mulligan in life, what would it be and why?
• [46:28] The chancellor stood up for his team to be able to play in the arena.  Then they went on to win 12 conference championships in the next 15 years.  
• [47:34] Coach said, “One of these days someone is going to give me a chance, and when they do, I am going to make them look good.”
• [50:21] So many things have happened along the way and he can’t help but think how fortunate he is.  
• [50:39] When it’s your time to say farewell, what will Coach Moore be known for? 
• [53:02] What question should I have asked you that I didn’t?

Links and Resources:

• 12 Oaks Community Website
• Team Anderson Realty
• Wendie on Facebook 
• WML Wellness on Facebook
• Dallas, TX (Coach Moore born and raised) https://www.visitdallas.com
• Royal Ambassadors (Instrumental in Coach Moore’s development as a boy) http://www.royalambassadors.com
• Dallas Christian College (Coach Moore’s first year of higher education) https://www.dallas.edu
• Johnson University (Wes meets Linda – former Miss Martin County, NC) https://johnsonu.edu
• University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (Coach Moore’s 1st Division I Head Coach and 3rd Head Coach position) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tennessee_at_Chattanooga
• Frances Marion University (2nd Head Coach position) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Marion_University
• Maryville College (1st Head Coach position) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryville_College#
• Coach Pat Summit (Mentor) – Head Coach Women’s Basketball @ University of Tennessee and where Wes Moore achieved his Masters’ graduating with Honors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Summitt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tennessee
• Coach Randy Lambert (Mentor) – Head Basketball Coach @ Maryville College https://www.mcscots.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/lambert_randy?view=bio
• North Carolina State University  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_State_University