For Moser, perspective key to rebuilding Loyola
Porter Moser can probably relate to the career resurrection of actor Neil Patrick Harris.
Harris portrayed a kid doctor on the TV series, “Doogie Howser,” stayed under the radar for several years, then found popularity once again after a cameo in the movie “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.”
Moser was also a boy wonder, of sorts. He became a Division I head basketball coach at age 31 when given the front seat on the bench at Arkansas-Little Rock in 2000. His first team at UALR made a 14-win improvement.
Time passed, and Moser, a Naperville native, moved on to a promising job at Illinois State, then wasn’t given much time to carry out his rebuilding plan.
Now after four years of working as an assistant, he’s back as head coach at Loyola University. There was no “Harold and Kumar” moment in Moser’s return, but he did spend a few years working with Rick Majerus, who may been to White Castle a few times.
Moser, a Benet Academy grad, is still younger than most head coaches in college basketball. And now he’s had a unique opportunity to re-evaluate everything about his coaching style and strategies.
“I really believe God works in mysterious ways,” Moser said. “He’s got a plan and I was able to take a step back and see what I liked that I was doing and see what I didn’t like. In any phase of life, that’s always good to do. But not only that, during that time I got to sit next to one of the best basketball minds in the country, Rick Majerus.”
Moser worked with Majerus at Saint Louis. Two years ago, the Billikens went 23-13 and advanced to the finals of the College Basketball Invitational before losing to Virginia Commonwealth.
So with seven years of head coaching under his belt, plus the chance to learn from a respected coach such as Majerus, Moser believes he’s ready to do his best work at Loyola.
“I won over 100 games taking over two last-place teams, and that’s very hard in Division I culture,” he said. “And I felt I would have had two turnarounds if I just had one more year (at Illinois State).
“Now I’m very blessed to have this Loyola job. There’s no question that we can turn this.”
Loyola started out well last season under coach Jim Whitesell. The Ramblers were 7-0, then lost to Butler by 2 points and to No. 5 Kansas State by 8 points in December. They finished 16-15 and lost three of the team’s top four scorers.
Building a consistent winner in the Horizon League had been an elusive goal until Butler suddenly emerged as a national power in the past two NCAA Tournaments. At places like Loyola or Illinois State, it’s not easy to land difference-making recruits, so there’s usually a small gap between the winners and losers.
“The Horizon League has momentum,” Moser said. “It’s crazy to think that Butler went to the national championship game and was the third seed in our conference tournament. Cleveland State and Milwaukee were ahead of them.”
As for this season, the Ramblers have a quality veteran in 6-8 junior Ben Avercamp, a second-team, preseason all-conference selection. But there’s virtually no experience in the backcourt because two-year starting point guard Courtney Stanley tore his ACL in September.
Moser is already looking forward to next year, when Avercamp and Stanley should be back. He’ll add four freshmen to the mix and gain the services of two transfers currently sitting out — guard Cully Payne (Iowa) from Schaumburg High School, and 6-9 forward Devin Hill (DePaul).
“The optimism is the culture, how hard they’re playing, how much they’re buying in,” Moser said. “You take a lot from coach Majerus, the attention to detail. Guys are keeping notebooks. We’re having film sessions every day. We’re really teaching them the game and we’re teaching them about the culture of a winning atmosphere.
“There’s a lot to be excited about. The campus is just exploding with new buildings going up. New weight room, new locker room. It’s just a great time to be at Loyola right now.”