Joe Moore, A Football Coach
Bill Schenley
I played football against a high school team (McDowell)
he coached, for two seasons (1963-'65). In Western
Pennsylvania, Joe Moore is a legend.
After he was fired at Notre Dame he returned to Erie and
coached at Cathedral Prep. He took them to the AAAA
State Championship game in 2000 ... and they won in 2001.
His son, John, has been a coach at Prep for several years.
My best Joe Moore story: In 1964, playing against
McDowell, myself and another DB chased one of his
players out of bounds ... Coach Moore yelled at one of
his players (about my teammate) "Break his *fucking*
legs. The next play ended up near the McDowell sideline.
Coach Moore grabbed his player by the neck of his jersey
and screamed "I didn't say knock him down; I said BREAK
HIS *FUCKING* LEGS."
Almost forty years later and we still laugh about that ...
Best line coach I know of ... and by far, the meanest.
PITTSBURGH, Penna. (AP) ~
Joe Moore, an offensive line coach who won an age
discrimination suit against Notre Dame, died Thursday
at 71.
He died of lung cancer at his suburban Pittsburgh home.
Moore also coached at Pitt from 1977-85, developing
football All-Americans and Hall of Famers such as Bill
Fralic, Mark May, Russ Grimm and Jimbo Covert.
"He was such a great recruiter in eastern Pennsylvania
and then he shifted to offensive line and he was such a
tremendous coach," said Foge Fazio, who coached with
Moore for nine years at Pitt. "He was such an innovator
in terms of technique,"
Moore was an assistant under Lou Holtz from 1988-1996,
and was part of the staff that won the 1988 national
championship at Notre Dame. But he took Notre Dame to
court over age discrimination after being fired at age 64
in 1996.
A jury sided with Moore, and he returned to Pennsylvania.
"I knew I wasn't too old to coach, but I decided it was time
to return to my roots," Moore said.
The trial prompted Moore's attorney, Rick Lieberman, to
write "Personal Foul: Joe Moore vs. the University of
Notre Dame."
Moore was a high school football coach before joining the
staff at Pitt.
Bill Schenley
> discrimination suit against Notre Dame, died Thursday
> at 71.
FROM: The Erie Times-News ~
Legendary football coach Joe Moore, who trained NFL
stars and beat Notre Dame in the courtroom, died
Thursday at his home in Pittsburgh.
Moore, 71, who fought cancer for almost a year, was
among America's best-known coaches. A championship
coach at McDowell in the 1960s, he later gained fame as
one of the nation's top line coaches at the major college
level.
At Pittsburgh, Moore helped turn Bill Fralic, Jimbo
Covert and Mark Stepnoski into All-Americans. In all,
Moore developed a string of All-Americans during his
years at Pitt, Temple and Notre Dame.
Fralic, Covert and Stepnoski all became NFL Pro Bowlers,
and said they owed it all to Moore.
"Without a doubt, Coach Moore is the greatest line
coach ever," Covert said in 1991. "He would take green
kids and turn them into men."
Moore's players were famously loyal to him, just as he
was to them. As recently as a year ago, Moore
responded to a call from Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz,
who had played for Moore at Upper St. Clair. Ferentz
asked him for advice on how to train the Hawkeyes'
young linemen, and Moore immediately took a flight to
Iowa City to help.
Blunt and intimidating, Moore was a stern taskmaster,
yet many of his players worshipped him.
"He scared the daylights out of you, and he asked more
of you than you thought it was possible to give," said
Dave Ciacchini, a halfback who played for Moore's
McDowell teams in the late '60s and early '70s.
"Ultimately, though, you came out a better person."
Moore arrived in Erie in 1963 as McDowell's new coach.
He immediately turned around a program that had won
just one game the previous season.
In nine seasons at McDowell, Moore's teams won 65 of
81 games. The Trojans lost just four times in Moore's
last five seasons.
"Joe was one of the best coaches Erie ever saw," former
East coach Billy Brabender said. "Maybe the best. We
had some tremendous battles on the field, but we were
great friends off the field. He was so good with the kids.
Joe's McDowell teams were fundamentally sound in every
respect. Man, they were tough kids.
"The thing about Joe is that it was practically impossible
to outwork him," Brabender said. "He knew how to
motivate players and how to prepare for a game. He'd
study films for hours."
Brabender was coaching against McDowell in 1965 when
Moore became enraged at referee Walter "Chubby" Kuhl
and punched him in the face. Moore was suspended for
the rest of the season and censured by the PIAA, but he
returned as coach the next season.
In 1972, Moore returned to the Pittsburgh area where he'd
been an all-city running back for Schenley in the early
1950s. Within a year, he turned a moribund Upper St. Clair
team into a WPIAL powerhouse.
Moore's disciplined teams caught the eye of Pitt coach
Jackie Sherrill, who hired him as an assistant coach.
"Everybody in Pittsburgh knows and respects Coach
Moore," Fralic said in 1994. "He has legions of admirers."
Charles Rush, the Penn State lineman who played for
Moore at Cathedral Prep when Moore returned to Erie
in 1998, recalled the time he met former Pittsburgh
Steelers coach Chuck Noll.
"Coach Noll asked me the name of my school," Rush
said. "And when I said, 'Cathedral Prep,' he said, 'Oh,
then you're being trained by Joe Moore. My only
advice to you is to do everything Coach Moore tells
you.' "
Moore remained at Pitt through Foge Fazio's reign as
coach from 1982-85, then moved to Temple where he
coached for Bruce Arians for two seasons.
In 1988, Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz invited Moore to
coach the line for the Fighting Irish. For the next nine
years Moore was in his glory. Notre Dame loved his
fiery style, and Moore responded in kind.
When Notre Dame made him an honorary member of its
monogram club in 1993, Moore broke down and wept at
the ceremony.
Although he and Holtz were not particularly close, Holtz
had great respect for Moore. "Joe was a big reason we
had as much success as we did at Notre Dame," Holtz
said after he resigned in 1996.
When Bob Davie fired Moore late in '96 and then later
told the players "Coach Moore resigned because he felt
he was too old to make a commitment," Moore was
furious.
Moore successfully sued Notre Dame for age
discrimination and won a $555,000 judgment. Moore,
according to his lawyer, Richard Lieberman, ended up
with slightly more than $150,000.
Notre Dame's lawyers portrayed Moore as an
old-fashioned coach who ranted at his players and
occasionally slapped them. But when Prep graduate Rick
Kaczenski took the stand, ostensibly as a witness against
Moore, he gave powerful testimony.
Kaczenski, who played center at Notre Dame, confirmed
that Moore had slapped him at halftime of a game, but
added, "Coach Moore was the most important influence
for me at Notre Dame. He taught me there was more to
football than just football. From him I learned that football
teaches you about life."
After the trial Moore returned to Erie to join Mike
Mischler's staff at Prep. "I knew I wasn't too old to coach,
but I decided it was time to return to my roots," Moore
said. "I love working with kids. It's a joy for me to watch
them work hard and develop themselves."
Mischler, who was only 29 when Moore, then 66, joined
his staff, called his two years with Moore "the most
rewarding years of my professional career."
"Joe was a remarkable coach and teacher. He had a passion
for football unlike anyone I've ever known," Mischler said.
"He had a great gift of motivating his players. He was very
tough but fair. I think his greatest legacy as a coach is that
he never failed to earn the loyalty, love and respect of his
players."
In Mischler's first season with Moore, Prep's young team
advanced to the PIAA Western final. The next season, the
Ramblers lost a heartbreaker to Central Bucks West in the
state championship game. In Mischler's third year, after
Moore retired, Prep beat Central Bucks for the title.
The Times-News selected Moore as the second greatest
coach in Erie history in its Best of the Centry series.
"Joe was one of the best coaches and best men I've ever
known," said Tony Zambroski, a longtime Prep coach who
came out of retirement to join his friend on Mischler's staff.
"There will never be another like him."
Moore is survived by his wife, Fran, and three sons, Joseph
and James, both of Pittsburgh, and John of Erie, and four
grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
treadw...@gmail.com
I played against McDowell. I was a freshmasn redshirted up to varsity. They were a power house in 1971 in Erie. But we had a pretty good public school team but with a stupid head coach. well anyway, i was sent in. It was a draw play, and i ran 30 yards. similar thing happened to me the mother fucker moore said break his legs. they piled on me after i was down and they were penalized another 15 yards.
2 days later my head coach says i got to play in the junior varsity game. I wish i had the balls or some mentor adults to back me in not wanting to possibly injure my knee worse, to do what my black fellow half-back and good friend did and told the coach to go fuck himself when he tried to force him play injured and quit.
So i play in this game. we were losing. some guy comes in with another stupid running play and we were going nowhere. so i tell the quarterback fuck those idiots. lets do a pass play. i told the quarter back to send the wide recierver on the other end out on i forget, and draw to me and i'll go down and out and long. I had to slow down to catch the ball but caught and an 80 yard touchdown. last game i ever played. it was a muddy field and my knew blew out for good: acl completely tear. back in those days that was a career ender. we were the only jv team to score any points against McDowell JV's
MAIN POINT: IF YOU LIKE ATHLETICS IN GENERAL. DON'T SACRIFICE YOUR COMPETING IN OTHER ATHLETICS. QUIT OR DON'T PLAY AMERICAN FOOTBALL. I'M 60 NOW AND CAN BARELY WALK OR SLEEP. ANYWAY AFTER AWHILE AMERICAN FOOTBALL(AS OPPOSED TO WORLD FOOTBALL, I.E WHAT WE IDIOT AMERICANS CALL SOCCER)IS SO BORING.
I hate all these Bobby (wtf is his last name, Indiana head coach) types. People have to realize these mean and downright evil coaches are in the minority as winners. Most winning coaches are decent fair men.