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Cougar Basketball Coach


For the first time in 20 years, there will be a new head coach roaming the sidelines for the Mount Vernon Nazarene University men’s basketball team when the 2009-2010 season tips off as Matt Moore takes over as the ninth head coach in the program’s 41-year history. Moore comes to MVNU after spending four years as the top assistant coach at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind.

During Moore’s time with the Lancers, the program posted a 95-44 record and made back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight in the NAIA National Tournament in 2008 and 2009. The team posted three consecutive 20-win seasons during that span and also finished as the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament runner-up twice in 2003 and 2007.

In addition to coaching at Grace, Moore was an assistant varsity coach at Logansport High School from 2003-2006 where he worked under Indiana High School Hall of Fame Coach Al Rhodes, and he served as an assistant coach for the McDonald’s All-American Team in 2005 when the game was played in South Bend, Ind. He has also taken his knowledge of the game of basketball overseas and has worked with players and coaches in France, Germany, and Kenya as part of missions trips that he has taken.

Moore graduated from Grace in 2002 with a degree in Secondary Education. As a four-year starter for the Lancers, he dished out 660 career assists, which still ranks fourth in program history. He also compiled the fifth-highest single-season assist total with 242 for an average of 7.2 per game. He went on get a master’s degree in Physical Education at Ball State University.

“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to join an institution like Mount Vernon Nazarene University,” said Moore. “To be named the head men’s basketball coach is an honor, and to now be included in such a long tradition of basketball experience is humbling. I feel that the Lord has called us to MVNU as we continue our mission to further His Kingdom through the game of basketball.”

Moore takes over a program that has posted a 297-125 record (.704 winning percentage) over the past 13 seasons while topping the 20-win mark in 12 of them. The Cougars have also earned eight berths in the NAIA Division II National Tournament during that span including four in a row for the first time ever from 2006-2009. MVNU captured the NCCAA national title in 2002 and finished as the NCCAA runner-up in 2004. The Cougars also won three American Mideast Conference Tournament titles and the program’s only two regular-season conference titles during that span as well as consistently receiving votes in the NAIA Division II poll.

Moore and his wife, Anna, reside in Mount Vernon and the couple is expecting their first child in November. In addition to coaching, Moore also teaches in the Physical Education Department.



To contact Coach Moore, you can e-mail him at matt.moore@mvnu.edu.

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