Starting his 16th season with the Northwestern State men’s hoop squad, Jeff Moore is a cornerstone of the program.
Coach Mike McConathy entrusts his staff with responsibilities that many Division I coaches don’t delegate. But with three former college head coaches on the bench in Moore, Dave Simmons and Morris Scott, the Demons are blessed with high-caliber help.
Moore’s in-game strategy and stewardship of all aspects of the program have weaved seamlessly with McConathy’s players-first, family values approach.
He has been the point man as recruiting coordinator as NSU signed two Southland Conference Freshmen of the Year, Jalan West (2013) and Zeek Woodley (2014), and the 2013 Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year, DeQuan Hicks. Most recently, center Ishmael Lane signed a professional deal with a Japanese team.
Three of Moore’s signees -- Woodley, Koby Achane at Missouri Valley College, and Ronnie Ross at John Wood Community College -- became their program’s career scoring leaders. West owns the Demons’ career assists record.
Moore helped steer the 2012-13 Demons to a 14-seed in the NCAA tournament after another Southland Tournament championship.
The 23 games the Demons won in 2012-13 sit in second place for the school’s all-time history for wins in a season.
NSU won 59 games across three seasons from 2012-15, while leading the nation in scoring in 2014-15 and ranking second nationally the previous two seasons.
Moore’s amazing work ethic and winning personality made him the perfect choice to fill the big shoes on the Demons’ staff when he replaced Simmons, who was hired as head coach at McNeese in 2006.
Moore’s motto: “preparation comes face-to-face with opportunity.”
He fits into a legacy of assistant coaches that McConathy has nurtured, three who are current Division I head coaches -- Buzz Williams at Virginia Tech after a great run at Marquette, Paul Weir at New Mexico after a great debut at New Mexico State, along with beloved Southland rival Mark Slessinger at New Orleans. Multiple others have gone on to head coaching positions after their NSU tenures.
Moore’s strategic acumen and teaching skills were tremendous assets as NSU won yet another Southland Conference title in his first season on staff, capturing the SLC East Division crown. In his first two seasons, the Demons made back-to-back trips to the Southland Finals.
The Demons returned to significant March basketball in 2019-20 as Moore helped a staff nurture eight newcomers, blending with a core of veterans to finish tied for fourth in the Southland Conference. It's the fifth time since 2010 that NSU has finished in the top four of the 13-member league. NSU won its first-round SLC Tournament game before the postseason was canceled because of the COVID-19 virus.
Before coming to NSU, he spent five years (1997-2002) as a head coach and athletic director in the junior college ranks at John Wood (Ill.) Community College. There he made a run to the NJCAA regional tournament semifinals in 2001 and coached Ronnie Ross, a Jeanerette, La., product who was ranked as a Top 10 junior college prospect at guard by TSN Basketball Magazine.
Ross was the first of three Top 10 junior college prospects by position that Moore coached. Kurt Looby and Jessan Gray played for Moore at Tyler Junior College when he was an assistant from 2002-05. In his three seasons at Tyler, they qualified for the regional tournament every season.
After TJC, he coached at Bossier Parish Community College as an assistant for one season before Coach Mike called his number. At BPCC, the Cavaliers won the Miss-Lou Conference and Tournament Championship and qualified for the Region XXII Tournament for the first time in five years.
Moore not only has a commitment to excellence on the floor, but in the classroom. Ninety percent of Demon basketball players have graduated since Moore arrived, and NSU’s APR has continued to climb including 1000 marks in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. In 2014, the program received NCAA national recognition for ranking in the top 10 percent in Division I, and again led all conference and state public institutions in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate with a 98 percent score.
He’s recruited high-producing players such as Achane from Welsh, La.; Will Mosley from Shreveport, a Demon great who is fifth all-time in NCAA Division I history in blocks and is a pro star in Italy; and NSU standout Trey Gilder of Dallas, who played with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and was an NBA D-League All-Star.
Moore has coached more than 90 players in his career from his home state of Louisiana.
Moore’s father, the late Wilbert C. “Nooky” Moore, coached for 33 seasons in Louisiana in high school (Slidell, Rayne, Notre Dame-Crowley, Lake Arthur) and college (assistant coach to Ralph Ward at McNeese State). Moore's alma Lake Arthur High recently honored him by naming its basketball court "Jeff Moore Court" in 2019. The gymnasium is already named after his father "Nooky."
The younger Moore began his college coaching career in 1995 at his alma mater, Missouri Valley College, after serving as a student assistant coach in 1994-95 following the end of his playing career. He was named an NAIA Scholar All-American at Missouri Valley after earning National Junior College Athletic Association All-Academic honors at Marshalltown (Iowa) Community College, where he was also an honorable mention all-region performer.
He earned a master’s degree in education, with an emphasis in athletic administration, from Northwestern State in 1997.
Moore was a standout player at Lake Arthur High School and was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame. His No. 34 jersey is retired, the only sports jersey in school history to have that distinction. Jeff played on the Louisiana Stars AAU state championship team and was chosen for the Louisiana Pepsi All-Stars Team that toured the Canary Islands.
He continues to host summer camps in Jefferson Davis Parish starting in 1998 and also hosted senior workout camps in April in south Louisiana, providing an opportunity for hundreds of state prep players to obtain college scholarships at the junior college, NAIA and NCAA levels. His relationships with prep coaches have helped raise attendance at summer NSU camps and clinics to all-time highs.
He and his wife Amy, the physical education teacher at the NSU Elementary Lab School, have a beautiful and active daughter, Gracie, and a son, Caige (for Dad’s Cajun heritage), who will turn seven in January. Amy, who played college volleyball and basketball, also serves as assistant volleyball coach at Natchitoches Central High School.
