It couldn't happen now. Turn down the LSU head football coaching job to remain at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga? Anyone who would do that wouldn't be seen as sound enough in mind to be considered for either position.
Yet according to the excellent documentary "Scrappy Moore - In His Time" that's debuting this week on GoMocs.com, that's exactly what Moore did at one point in his storied University of Chattanooga career.
"He had that big offer to go to LSU," recalled former player Dan Washburn in the first of the documentary's four installments, which ran on the website Monday night. "They had a family meeting. (Scrappy) and (wife) Ms. Helen and (sons) David and Scrappy Jr. He asked for a vote. Three hands went up not to move, so that ended it right there."
If it wasn't exactly the beginning of one of the more amazing coaching legacies in college football history, it certainly cemented Moore as a Scenic City legend.
Or as Washburn later noted, "Scrappy was just a hometown guy. Chattanooga was all about Scrappy Moore in those days, during the '50s and '60s."
Watching this oral history - as producer and director Tate Johnson has labeled it - is what citizens of the Scenic City should be all about this week, whether they pledge allegiance to UTC and its athletic teams or not.
The second episode aired on the website Tuesday evening with the third installment set for 7 o'clock Wednesday. The fourth and final segment will run no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday so as not to interfere with the Mocs' 7:30 kickoff at Finley Stadium against Austin Peay. Each episode is roughly 25 minutes long and the documentary will remain on the website for the foreseeable future.
"It's a story long overdue," said the 29-year-old Johnson, who is the production director of creative and live events for UTC's MocsVision team. "I was surprised it hadn't been done before now. He was just an incredible man. Beloved by his community, by the university, and by all his athletes. What he did for football in general is just wild."
Indeed, in the first episode alone, much was learned of Moore's close friendships with Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, Georgia's Wallace Butts, Clemson's Frank Howard and others. Of how Tennessee once attempted to lure him to Knoxville as an interim coach when General Robert Neyland was fulfilling military duties during World War II. Of how he was one of the first coaches to punt on third down and utilize the forward pass, as well as his genius with the 5-4 defense.
Of course, there's so much more to Scrappy's story. He played minor league baseball for nearly a decade, including a year with the Lookouts, which he also managed in 1944.
An outstanding athlete at both City High School and McCallie after being raised in the Onion Bottom neighborhood, he later starred at Georgia in both football and baseball. But coaching was always in his blood.
"Coach Moore was ahead of his time," said the late UC running back Carey Henley in the documentary. "He was a lot better coach than some coaching today at major universities, I can tell you that."
Though the highlight on the field was undoubtedly the 14-6 triumph over Tennessee at Neyland Stadium on November 8, 1958, those who played for him often relish far more personal moments.
"I was lucky enough to be the MVP of a game against Xavier," said Ron Wade, who played for Moore in the mid-'60s. "I had started dating Bea Clemmer, who was crowned Homecoming Queen that year and would later become my wife. Well, Scrappy finds out we're dating and goes up to Bea one day and says, 'Now don't you mess up my punter.' The day I graduated, I took my Queen in one hand and my diploma in the other and have been the happiest man on the planet ever since."
The late Harold Wilkes, a member of that 1958 team and the man who followed Moore as coach and athletic director, is featured in the video recalling Moore's mastery of money.
"He was a genius when it came to managing money," Wilkes said. "The number of scholarships we gave was determined by the number of beds we had. If we had 52 beds, we gave out 52 scholarships."
Added Napolitano on Tuesday, "Most of the food we ate each week came from whatever Scrappy and the coaches could buy at the Farmer's Market. We didn't starve, but sometimes we'd eat pea soup and tomato sandwiches."
There's little question that had he gone to LSU, Moore wouldn't have had to spend his time shopping for groceries. In all likelihood, he would have become a household name from coast to coast instead of merely throughout the South.
But Wade said something that's also true: "Everything that's happened in athletics at UTC happened because of Scrappy. This documentary ties a gold ribbon around an era we'll never live again."
And taking 90 minutes out of your life to watch "Scrappy Moore - In His Time" should remind everyone who's ever cared the teeniest, tiniest bit about Chattanooga athletics that they should be forever grateful that Moore chose to live his entire life, especially his football coaching life, in the Scenic City instead of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.