The Wolfpacker's No. 7 story of the decade: The rise of women's hoops
Throughout the week, The Wolfpacker will be enumerating its choices for the top 10 stories of the past decade that was in NC State athletics.
Related link: No. 10 - The hiring of Kevin Keatts
Related link: No. 9 - Winning the rivalry in football
Related link: No. 8 - The renovation of Reynolds
The countdown continues with No. 7:
No. 7: The Rise of Women's Hoops
Kellie Harper arrived at NC State with much fanfare. The former star basketball player at Tennessee had built a strong program at Western Carolina and seemed like a budding star when chosen to replace Hall of Famer Kay Yow, who passed away in 2009.
In Harper’s first year, the hire looked like a grand slam. NC State had won 20 games (following a 13-17 season the year before) and made it to the NCAA Tournament. That would be the best season under Harper, however. The Pack went 50-50 over the next three years, including 16-32 in the ACC.
That’s when then-director of athletics Debbie Yow decided to make a coaching change. In a podcast that Yow did with The Wolfpacker in her retirement, she admitted that her first desire was to hire a woman for the job, but a couple candidates that she reached out to had demands that were too high.
They wanted to be paid at least $700,000 a year. Yow had aimed to find the best female basketball coach in the country.
She then talked with Wes Moore, a former NC State assistant with an impressive 15-year run at Tennessee-Chattanooga. Moore won 76.0 percent of his games there and led them to nine NCAA Tournament appearances. He’s on his way to duplicating that level of success and then some in Raleigh.
“I think he’s a program turner, and I think he is the real deal [that] never had this opportunity at the Power Five level,” Yow said.
Moore immediately won big with Harper’s old players, taking the Pack to a 25-8 record and 11-5 mark in the ACC in his first campaign. However, the program has taken off once Moore was able to recruit his full roster.
During the past three seasons, NC State has gone a collective 77-23 overall and 35-13 in the ACC, reaching the Sweet 16 twice. This year’s team is currently 15-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference and has spent much of the season ranked in the top 10.
Last year’s team started the year 21-0 despite the loss of four key players to season-ending injuries, including three starters.
Moore’s recruiting has also taken off. NC State landed, by some estimations, the top class in the ACC in 2019 and added two more top-100 caliber prospects this fall. His successes have Pack fans dreaming big about what the future might hold for women’s basketball.
The Wolfpacker coverage of Wes Moore's hiring
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