|
 For
Illinois State head coach Porter Moser it is only
fitting that the son of a land developer would carry
a blueprint with him.
Moser designed and implemented his "blueprint for
success" at his first head coaching position, a
three-year stint at Arkansas-Little Rock. The plan
not only focused on winning basketball games and
building a program, but also graduating
student-athletes, developing young men, gaining a
sense of community and sharing a vision.
Now, he's engineering that same vision right in his
own backyard. A native of Naperville, Ill., Moser
played collegiately at Creighton and is familiar
with the Illinois State tradition and the quality
level of basketball in the Missouri Valley
Conference.
While looking to return Illinois State to the top of
the league, he is also gunning to become the first
person in conference history to win a title, both as
a player and a head coach.
With two seasons under his belt, the application of
the blueprint is in full motion in the
Bloomington-Normal community. He finished his first
season with a 10-19 record and even though his
first-year record wasn't up to his standards, Moser
followed it up with a 17-13 campaign, despite being
predicted to finish last in the league in the
preseason poll. The winning record gave the Redbirds
their 30th winning season in 35 years as a Division
I program and showed the community a glipse of the
future.
In addition to turning around the program on the
court, Moser's grassroots approach has found him at
numerous community service events, student functions
and other public appearances as he shares the
excitement surrounding Redbird basketball.
Moser joins the Redbirds after compiling a 54-34
(.614) record at Arkansas-Little Rock after a
10-year run as a Division I assistant coach.
In his first season as a head coach, Moser inherited
a 4-24 Trojan team. He responded by guiding UALR to
an 18-11 mark, which was the largest turnaround in
Sun Belt Conference history and tied for the biggest
reversal of fortune at the Division I level that
season.
When Moser took over the program, the Trojans ranked
last in several defensive categories in the Sun
Belt. After that first season, UALR finished tops in
the conference in field goal percentage defense and
three-point field goal percentage defense, and
second in scoring defense.
Heading into his second season, Moser had lost four
starters and the top three scorers, but still
managed to post an 18-11 record while again leading
the league in three-point field goal percentage
defense. In 2002-03, the Trojans finished with an
18-12 mark that included an 84-75 win over Western
Athletic Conference Tournament champion Colorado
State.
Through three seasons at Arkansas-Little Rock, Moser
molded Trojan basketball into one of the biggest
tickets in town. He looks to create the same type of
atmosphere at Illinois State.
Prior to becoming the Trojans' head coach, Moser
served two seasons as an assistant at UALR under
Wimp Sanderson and current Dallas Maverick assistant
Sidney Moncrief.
After his playing career ended at Creighton, Moser
stayed with the Bluejays as a graduate assistant
coach on Tony Barone's staff during the 1990-91
season. That year, the Bluejays won the Valley and
advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
The following season, Moser left Creighton to rejoin
Barone for his first of two stints at Texas A&M.
Moser served as an assistant coach with the Aggies
from 1991-95 and was instrumental in their 1994
National Invitation Tournament bid. Texas A&M
finished the season with a 19-11 record and advanced
to its first postseason appearance in seven years.
Moser's tenure at Texas A&M was interrupted by a
one-year stint as an assistant at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was a key part of the
Panthers' highest-ranked recruiting class in the
Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
After one season at UW-Milwaukee, Moser returned for
two more seasons at Texas A&M under Barone before
landing in Little Rock.
A 1986 graduate of Benet Academy in Lisle, Moser was
a two-year starter for Creighton as a guard,
including the Bluejays' 1989 Missouri Valley
Conference championship team. He graduated in 1990
from Creighton with a degree in business management.
At Benet, Moser was a three-year varsity starter and
was named the conference player of the year as a
senior. The all-state selection was also
instrumental in Benet's state record 102-game home
winning streak.
The 36-year-old Moser, born August 24, 1968, is
married to the former Megan Lewis. They are the
parents of a daughter, Jordan (3), and two sons,
Jake (1) and Ben, who was born in March 2005. |
