University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach Wes Moore is the leading candidate for the same job at East Carolina, a Greenville, N.C., television station reported Saturday.
WNCT, citing sources close to the coaching search, reported on its Web site that the longtime Lady Mocs coach was the favorite to replace Sharon Baldwin-Tener, who resigned on April 16 to become the coach at Georgia State.
Moore is believed to have interviewed for the job Friday. Neither Moore nor UTC athletic director Rick Hart responded to calls or text messages to their cell phones Saturday night seeking comment.
Moore was a finalist for the South Carolina job two years ago and lost out on the North Carolina State vacancy last year to former UTC assistant Kellie Harper. Moore, who has been at UTC for 12 seasons, has ties to North Carolina. He was an assistant under the late Kay Yow at N.C. State early in his career, and his wife, Linda, is from Jamesville, N.C.
East Carolina went 23-11 last season, coming one win short of tying the school record for victories in a season. The Pirates earned their first-ever WNIT bid this season and have led Conference USA in attendance the past two seasons
The Lady Mocs have won 11 consecutive Southern Conference regular-season titles, posted 11 straight 20-win seasons and have won eight of the past 10 SoCon tournaments. In his 12 seasons at UTC, Moore has a record of 290-85.
Thursday, Moore announced that freshman forwards Michelle Davis and Erin Helton had decided to quit the UTC team, further depleting next season’s squad that was going to have to replace two-time SoCon player of the year Shanara Hollinquest and three-year starter Jenaya Wade-Fray.
The Lady Mocs are expected to return just two starters from this year’s team that won the SoCon regular-season and tournament titles: guards Tenisha Townsend and Kayla Christopher.
Moore has said often that it would take a great opportunity for him to leave UTC. Earlier this spring, his name surfaced as a candidate for the Clemson vacancy. That job went to former Tigers player Itoro Coleman.