Moore nominated again for Naismith HOF
Steve Moore, 12th all-time in NCAA men’s basketball coaching victories (all divisions) with 867 (867-253) including 780 in 33 seasons at The College of Wooster, is among the 55 North American Committee nominations for the 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It's Moore's second-consecutive nomination.
Steve Moore, “one of basketball’s greatest people,” is among the 55 North American Committee nominations for the 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which were announced recently on ESPN. This is the second-straight year Moore has been a nominee.
Moore, 12th all-time in NCAA men’s basketball victories (all divisions) with 867 (867-253), guided The College of Wooster’s storied men’s program to a 780-188 record over 33 seasons. Prior to taking the reins at Wooster, Moore posted an 87-65 ledger over six years at Muhlenberg College. He’s second all-time in Div. III victories and moved up to that spot with Wooster’s 91-67 victory over Allegheny College on Jan. 11, 2017, a win which also marked the legend’s 700th with the Fighting Scots.
Under Moore, Wooster made 28 appearances in the Div. III Championships, which included an appearance in the 2011 national championship game and 2003 and 2007 national semifinals. Wooster made the national tournament in each of Moore’s final 18 seasons on the bench, with that streak ranking as the longest in Div. III history and tied for the seventh-longest all-time among all divisions of NCAA men’s basketball.
Honors earned by Moore’s Scots included 21 All-America certificates, five National Association of Basketball Coaches District Player of the Year honors and alumnus Bryan Nelson being selected as the NABC Div. III Player of the Year in 2003. Additionally, Wooster won 20 games in each of the last 24 seasons, and the University of Kansas is the only NCAA men’s program with a longer active streak.
Wooster won a league-leading 18 North Coast Athletic Conference titles under Moore’s tutelage, and the Scots lead the way with 17 NCAC Tournament titles. Ten Scots earned the NCAC’s Player of the Year prize, five were voted as the conference’s top rookie and 111 all-conference certificates were earned by Wooster players.
Moore retired at the conclusion of the 2019-20 academic year.
Finalists from the North American and women’s committee for 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame are set to be announced in the time frame of NBA All-Star Weekend, currently set for early March. The entire class is slated to be announced during NCAA Final Four Weekend in April, and enshrinement is currently set for September 2021 in Springfield, Massachusetts.