Carrie Moore has been named The Friends of Harvard Women’s Basketball Head Coach, Erin McDermott, The John D. Nichols ’53 Family Director of Athletics, announced today. Moore, who becomes the fourth head coach in program history, is set to arrive in Cambridge from Michigan where she helped the Wolverines to the Elite 8 round of the 2022 NCAA tournament.
“I am delighted to welcome Carrie to Harvard!” stated McDermott. “She is poised to be an exceptional leader, mentor and teacher for current and future student-athletes. Carrie emerged from a strong pool given her impressive experiences and her alignment with Ivy League values of education and personal development. She is a true educator-coach and we are fortunate that she is joining the Crimson.”
“I am so incredibly humbled and excited to be the next head women’s basketball coach at Harvard University,” stated Moore. “Thank you to Erin McDermott, Nathan Fry and the rest of the search committee for this incredible opportunity, your confidence in me and for your tremendous support of our program. Also, a very special thank you to Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith for building such a tremendous foundation here and for your long history of fighting for women. Congratulations on your retirement. I am absolutely thrilled to lead these incredible young women and move this program forward. I can’t wait to get started!”
In her one season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in Ann Arbor, Moore guided Michigan to a 25-7 record (13-4 Big Ten) and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Wolverines entered the postseason ranked 12th in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, marking the program’s highest regular-season-ending ranking in school history.
At the individual level, Moore helped Naz Hillmon become Michigan’s first player to garner AP All-America First-Team honors, while coaching five All-Big Ten selections in 2021-22.
Prior to returning to her home state of Michigan, Moore spent two seasons at North Carolina, serving as the program’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. During her time in Chapel Hill, she guided the Tar Heels to the 2021 NCAA tournament and signed a pair of highly regarded recruiting classes. Her 2019 class was considered the 10th-best nationally, while the 2020 group was ranked third as it featured three McDonald’s All-Americans.
Along her path to Harvard included two different stints at Ivy League member Princeton. Before heading to UNC, Moore was an assistant coach for the Tigers, coaching Princeton to back-to-back Ivy regular-season and tournament titles (2017-18, 2018-19) en route to a pair of NCAA appearances, and a berth in the 2017 WNIT. She also served as the Tigers’ director of operations for two seasons (2008-09, 2009-10), with the 2009-10 team capturing the Ivy championship and reaching the NCAA tournament.
In between her stints at Princeton was a five-year run at Creighton. As an assistant from 2010-15, Moore helped the Bluejays reach the postseason each year, including consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament in 2012 and 2013, a feat that had never been accomplished in program history.
Before embarking on a successful coaching career, Moore was a standout player at Western Michigan, where she scored a school-record 2,216 points. As a senior in 2006-07, she was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year after leading the nation in scoring at 25.4 points per game, marking the first time a MAC player won the Division I scoring title. In addition to her efforts on the court, which included her setting nine school records and four league records, Moore was a star in the classroom, collecting Academic All-America Second-Team accolades and landing on the nominee list for the Senior CLASS Award. She graduated magna cum laude from WMU in 2007, with a degree in journalism.
Once her time as a Division I player was up, Moore signed WNBA free agent contracts with the Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky, and then played professionally for one season in Poland.
Moore takes the reigns of the Harvard basketball program following the retirement of Kathy Delaney-Smith, who coached the Crimson for the past 40 seasons. Delaney-Smith finished her career with a record of 630-434, including a 367-168 mark in Ivy League action, 11 Ivy championships and 16 postseason appearances. Her 630 overall wins and 367 conference victories are the most of any head coach, of any sport – men’s or women’s – in the history of the Ivy League.
Photo Courtesy Harvard Athletics
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