Having earned a reputation for turning the fortunes of local high school basketball teams quickly, Wes Moore now gets the chance to work with an established program.
The 38-year-old former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga point guard has accepted an offer to leave the Notre Dame girls' program and take over at Girls Preparatory School.
"I've admired his coaching abilities for a while now and really noticed him in the games his teams played against us," GPS athletic director Stacey Hill said. "I believe he'll step in and we won't miss a beat. I'm very excited that he wanted to come in and take the leadership role."
Notre Dame coach Wes Moore directs in this Dec. 27, 2014, file photo.Moore takes over for Jennifer Williams, who coached the Bruisers for two seasons, compiling a 27-27 overall record. Williams will remain at the school, where she works in admissions and likely will continue to work with the basketball team as an assistant.
"Jennifer has had a lot on her plate and wanted to take a step back for a little bit," Hill said. "She spoke very highly of Coach Moore and how well-coached his teams were."
Moore took over a Notre Dame program that hadn't had a winning season in more than a decade and guided the Lady Irish to 19-win seasons in two of his four years, also reaching the region tournament three times.
He previously had three seasons as the Signal Mountain boys' coach.
"Obviously GPS has a great tradition, so I'm very excited," Moore said. "It's a great school and program, and I've always had a lot of respect for GPS from playing them through the years."
The Bruisers have a lot of youth surrounding all-state point guard Akia Harris.
"After meeting with the team today, they have a lot of freshmen and sophomores, so we'll have to develop some experience," Moore said. "We want to make basketball a bigger part of their lives and get as much game experience as possible before the season rolls around."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.