Moore’s Belief System Powers Her Career

This past May, Carrie Moore was the first hire new North Carolina women's basketball head coach Courtney Banghart made when assembling her staff to lead the Tar Heels. After putting her name in the record books in both high school and in her college days at Western Michigan, Moore was a part of 102 of Banghart's 254 wins at Princeton where Banghart coached for 12 seasons.

"She has been a critical teammate in all parts of the Princeton program," Banghart said, "and brings talent, compassion, enthusiasm, hard work, knowledge, and authentic care for others with her every day. She is a difference maker and simply put, I'm better when having her by my side."

Moore first joined Banghart's side in 2008, but her basketball career began long before their first season together at Princeton.

Born and raised in Lathrup Village, Mich. – a suburb of Detroit – Moore quickly made a name for herself through basketball. With the Detroit Country Day School Yellowjackets, Moore played in the state championship game every year of her career, bookending her time with a pair of state p titles. Even though coaching wasn't on the horizon yet, Moore's high school coach started laying the foundation for her career path.

"Our chant at the end of every huddle was 'Believe It'," Moore says. "It's something that was embedded in me as a player and now as a coach and how I live my life. Our coach always had the best energy, the best advice and really pushed us to be better players and better people."

From Detroit Country Day, Moore traveled north to Western Michigan where she penned her name in the record book. As a freshman, Moore started all 32 games was named to the All-Mid-American Conference Freshman Team. She followed suit, earning first team All-MAC honors each of the next three seasons and capping off her collegiate career as the MAC Player of the Year in 2006-07. Throughout her career, Moore set nine school records and four MAC records.

"Being able to graduate as Western's all-time leading scorer both men and women was pretty amazing," Moore said. "It was cool to know that I left my mark on the program and the university as a whole. My time there propelled me into my future."

Moore's name can still be found 56 times in the WMU women's basketball record book, including being the all-time leading scorer with 2,224 points – 163 points ahead of Casey Rost's 1,061 on the women's side and 102 points ahead of David Kool's 2,122 on the men's.

Following her time in Kalamazoo, Mich., Moore attended training camps for both the Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky.

"Even though I didn't make a final WNBA roster," Moore said, "being able to play in exhibition games and put that uniform on with my name on the back and play against that level of competition and people I looked up to was pretty amazing."

Moore continued her playing career professionally in Poland for one year after college before returning to the United States.

"Towards the end of the year I was overseas," Moore said, "I started to think about what was next for me and if I did want to coach or not. It was just that natural transition from playing. I didn't grow up knowing that I wanted to coach but I knew the coaches in my life made a huge impact on me and what I've done up until that point. So I knew this would be a way for me to give back to the game and the younger generation and I was excited about that."

Making the decision to coach, Moore first joined Banghart's staff in 2008 as Princeton's director of basketball operations. She spent two seasons with the Tigers where she was part of the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009-10 as the Tigers went 26-3 on the season, including 14-0 in Ivy League play.

From Princeton, Moore earned her first coaching job as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. During her five seasons with the Bluejays, Creighton made post-season appearances in all five years —including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history (2012 and 2013).

"Although I was never able to play in the NCAA Tournament as a player," Moore said, "I've been fortunate to have been able there more times than not as a coach. At Creighton, we won a game in the first round and it was an upset against Syracuse in a 7-10 matchup. Then we kept it close against Tennessee in the second round. That was a great four or five days a coach."

Taking time away from college coaching for one season, Moore spent the 2015-16 school year as an assistant coach at Detroit Country Day with her old high school coach who unknowingly sparked her passion for the coaching aspect of the game.

Then Princeton came knocking once more asking her to rejoin Banghart's staff as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator where the Tigers won the Ivy League regular season and tournament championships for the second straight year in 2019.

"Back-to-back championships at Princeton was definitely a highlight," Moore said. "Winning the regular season and the conference tournament – that's hard to do. But we had a really great group and it was fun to be a part of that program."

Now only a few months away from her first game on the sidelines in Carolina Blue, a new chapter is on the horizon for Moore, but the passion for the game has remained steady.

"I've seen what the game can do and how it can transform lives. People who may not necessarily have the most opportunity growing up - you put a ball in their hand and it allows them to get an education, travel the world, and develop so many unique and important life-long relationships. That's what continues to push me - helping build those types of relationships and have those moments in this profession."

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