Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- rmmoody@syr.edu
- Phone:
- 3761
The all-time winningest coach in Alabama history, Rick Moody joined the Orange in the fall of 2007 as an assistant coach. He is involved in player development, game planning and practice planning. Moody retired as the head coach at Alabama after the 2004-05 season, concluding 16 highly successful seasons. Current SU head coach Quentin Hillsman was an assistant to Moody in his final year at Alabama.
Moody helped the Orange defense hold its opposition to just 35.0 percent (757-2160) from the field in 2009-10. SU was third in the BIG EAST and 15th in the NCAA in field-goal percentage defense. Syracuse’s opponents averaged just 60.2 points per game.
With the Crimson Tide, Moody earned 310 career victories, making him the winningest coach in school history (men or women’s). His Alabama career was highlighted by eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including five consecutive “Sweet 16” finishes and the school’s only Final Four trip in 1994. In addition, the Crimson Tide recorded eight 20-win seasons under Moody.
Go Orange
During Moody’s first season with the Orange, he helped improve SU’s rebounding numbers significantly as Syracuse went from 14th in the BIG EAST in rebounding in 2006-07 to second in 2007-08. He helped Juanita Ward average 8.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals per contest in her 2008-09 campaign. Ward had four double-figure rebounding performances and three double-doubles. She led the team in rebounds five times and scoring on four occasions.
Roll Tide
When Moody retired from Alabama at the end of the 2004-05 season he was the only Alabama basketball coach, men or women’s, to reach 300 wins at the school.
Bringing national attention to the Alabama program, he led the Crimson Tide to 11 post-season appearances including eight of the 10 NCAA appearances, in Alabama history, five consecutive “Sweet 16” showings and one trip to the Final Four in 1994. He also led the Tide to a record 26 wins in the 1993-1994 season. Under his direction, Alabama reached a final top-25 ranking eight times. In addition, they recorded 44 wins over nationally-ranked opponents including nine versus top-10 squads. His coaching career is also highlighted by outstanding numbers, including 19 regular-season tournament titles, 145 home victories, 97 regular-season SEC wins and 13 SEC Tournament victories.
Records and titles aside, Moody has focused on helping to develop student-athletes on and off the court. He has coached 12 All-Americans, including two Kodak All-Americans and two freshman All-Americans, and 22 All-SEC selections. During his time at Alabama, 45 of his student-athletes achieved Academic All-SEC status.
The Beginning
Moody has experience coaching at almost every level of an athlete’s development. His first coaching job was at Clifford Meigs Junior High School in Shalimar, Fla. After one season there, Moody moved to Choctawhatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where he spent two seasons compiling a 34-8 mark. After that, Moody coached the varsity boys’ at Fort Walton Beach High School, before returning to his home state of Alabama.
After spending five seasons coaching high school, Moody began his collegiate coaching career his as a graduate assistant and then an assistant coach at the University of Alabama. In 1982, Moody earned his master of arts in physical education.
During his stay with the Tide, Moody helped lead the Crimson Tide to their first NCAA Tournament appearance and developed Cassandra Crumpton into the Tide’s first All-American women’s basketball player.
After three seasons at the University of Alabama, Moody moved his family to Guntersville, Ala. He spent the next five seasons as the head coach for the varsity boys’ team at Guntersville High School.
Away from the game, Moody takes pleasure in spending time with his family. He also enjoys fishing and golfing. Moody and his wife, Sandra, have one son, Ben, who graduated from the University of Alabama and was a member of the golf team. He married Beth in August 2008 and is currently an assistant golf coach at Georgia State University.
