Moore A Tiger Of A Different Color
April 21, 2020 at 7:51 p.m.
Moore A Tiger Of A Different Color
By Roger Grossman-
Of course, he met them via a video chat because, well, you know, that’s how we have do things like that these days.
Moore was officially announced as head coach Saturday morning, and he saw the faces and heard the voices of those who would be covering the team and many of the other Tiger team coaches later that afternoon.
He’s been the head coach of the Fishers Tigers for the last three seasons, and so a wardrobe change from red to orange and black will be required.
No one had to tell him that.
Moore grew up just down the road in Columbia City — “21.3 miles from the Tiger Den” as he told us Saturday. And he attended and was an assistant coach at Grace College under Jim Kessler.
His first high school game was in the Tiger Den. So was his last.
He knows where the gym is, and he knows where the locker rooms are.
The difference is, now he’ll be working from the home side of the building.
Matt Moore is the elder statesman of the trio of “Moore boys”. Matt and twins Scott and Marcus make a pretty good ‘team’ of their own. Scott is the head basketball coach at Grace, Marcus is the athletics admissions recruiting coordinator and women’s tennis coach there, and now Matt has come home (in a way) to coach the Tigers.
I am honored to say I know all three of these guys well. They are confident, well-spoken, high-quality people. Matt is a friendly guy and he showed Saturday that is a very good communicator. He’s also the most intense of the three. He is going to demand a lot of people because he’s going to demand a lot of himself.
He’s not from Warsaw, but he knows what people around here expect from Tiger Basketball and he knows what he wants it to look like. And he’s going to expect everyone — players, families and the rest of us — to do what’s asked of them to make this work.
What will that look like? He’ll tell us, I am quite sure.
While happily part of the “Moore boys”, Matt is his own man. He knows what he wants and he really impressed the selection committee with how he wants to get there.
He’s not going to be intimidated. He’s been coaching at Kokomo and Fishers, and in both places his teams got better every year. He believes in himself and his way of doing things, and he’s coming here to implement it in Tiger Town.
He made no secret that he had seen the Tigers play Penn in the sectional in person, and that it’s quite possible that the roster that hits the floor in the Tiger Den on Thanksgiving Eve will look very different than what it would have.
He said Saturday he’d be working on assembling a staff and trying to start lines of communication with his new players as soon as possible.
But, he’s got another major event going on right now — there’s a baby on the way in the Moore family … soon!
Matt and his wife Anna are expecting No. 5 any day now, and this one will be the first boy. His name has yet to be determined, but “Tiger” was suggested at the presser Saturday. He didn’t dismiss it … not completely, anyway.
Oh, and there’s the whole “packing up your family and moving in the middle of a pandemic while finishing up the school year at your current school” thing.
So, the hiring of the new boys basketball coach is complete.
But now, the true work begins.
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Of course, he met them via a video chat because, well, you know, that’s how we have do things like that these days.
Moore was officially announced as head coach Saturday morning, and he saw the faces and heard the voices of those who would be covering the team and many of the other Tiger team coaches later that afternoon.
He’s been the head coach of the Fishers Tigers for the last three seasons, and so a wardrobe change from red to orange and black will be required.
No one had to tell him that.
Moore grew up just down the road in Columbia City — “21.3 miles from the Tiger Den” as he told us Saturday. And he attended and was an assistant coach at Grace College under Jim Kessler.
His first high school game was in the Tiger Den. So was his last.
He knows where the gym is, and he knows where the locker rooms are.
The difference is, now he’ll be working from the home side of the building.
Matt Moore is the elder statesman of the trio of “Moore boys”. Matt and twins Scott and Marcus make a pretty good ‘team’ of their own. Scott is the head basketball coach at Grace, Marcus is the athletics admissions recruiting coordinator and women’s tennis coach there, and now Matt has come home (in a way) to coach the Tigers.
I am honored to say I know all three of these guys well. They are confident, well-spoken, high-quality people. Matt is a friendly guy and he showed Saturday that is a very good communicator. He’s also the most intense of the three. He is going to demand a lot of people because he’s going to demand a lot of himself.
He’s not from Warsaw, but he knows what people around here expect from Tiger Basketball and he knows what he wants it to look like. And he’s going to expect everyone — players, families and the rest of us — to do what’s asked of them to make this work.
What will that look like? He’ll tell us, I am quite sure.
While happily part of the “Moore boys”, Matt is his own man. He knows what he wants and he really impressed the selection committee with how he wants to get there.
He’s not going to be intimidated. He’s been coaching at Kokomo and Fishers, and in both places his teams got better every year. He believes in himself and his way of doing things, and he’s coming here to implement it in Tiger Town.
He made no secret that he had seen the Tigers play Penn in the sectional in person, and that it’s quite possible that the roster that hits the floor in the Tiger Den on Thanksgiving Eve will look very different than what it would have.
He said Saturday he’d be working on assembling a staff and trying to start lines of communication with his new players as soon as possible.
But, he’s got another major event going on right now — there’s a baby on the way in the Moore family … soon!
Matt and his wife Anna are expecting No. 5 any day now, and this one will be the first boy. His name has yet to be determined, but “Tiger” was suggested at the presser Saturday. He didn’t dismiss it … not completely, anyway.
Oh, and there’s the whole “packing up your family and moving in the middle of a pandemic while finishing up the school year at your current school” thing.
So, the hiring of the new boys basketball coach is complete.
But now, the true work begins.
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