Catching up with 鈥� Russ Moore
Russ Moore is well into his fifth decade of being a football coach and has had plenty of successful seasons along the way.
One year that will always stand out for Moore is 1999 when he guided Waynesburg Central to its only WPIAL championship.
Currently the offensive line coach at Waynesburg University and entering his 44th season on the sidelines, Moore still thinks about that Raiders title team quite often.
鈥淓veryday,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淚 really do. If you sit in my mancave you have to.鈥�
Moore has plenty of memorabilia from the 1999 season and recalls that year in Waynesburg with great fondness.
鈥淐oming into Waynesburg they were struggling and we turned it around, eventually made the playoffs four of five years and had a couple undefeated regular seasons,鈥� said Moore, who led the Raiders to their first ever playoff victory over Elizabeth Forward in 1996.
Waynesburg won another playoff game in 1998 before losing to Brownsville. The Raiders came back the next year and knocked off South Park, 44-20, Center, 14-10, and then the Falcons in a lopsided rematch from the year before, 42-7, to reach the district final.
The Raiders had defeated Washington during the regular season, 25-7, and after a slow start showed their superiority again in the championship game with a 30-3 victory to claim the WPIAL championship.
Moore felt Waynesburg could鈥檝e done even more.
鈥淚 still believe we were the best team in the state that year but we didn鈥檛 play our typical game in the state semifinal and Tyrone beat us, then they won the state title,鈥� Moore recalled.
The Raiders, who featured stars such as Lanfer Simpson, Lee Fritz, Bryce Cree and Brandon Doppelheuer, finished 13-1.
鈥淚鈥檓 in touch with the kids from that team a lot,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲e talk about things, they reminisce and it鈥檚 a good time. The athletes we had were just awesome. I鈥檒l take that with me to the grave.
鈥淚t was a great year. The community was outstanding. They were pumped. We had sellout games, great support. Those were great people. I鈥檒l never forget that year and I hope the community always remembers it and the players always remember it.鈥�
Moore has had plenty of other coaching successes during his career, first at his alma mater, Clay-Battelle High School in West Virginia, where he was a three-year letterman, an all-conference player and a team captain as an offensive guard and defensive end. After playing in college at Potomac State and Fairmont State College, Moore returned to Clay-Battelle as a coach and helped resurrect the football program, literally.
鈥淲hen I started coaching at Clay-Battelle they had dropped football the year before that because they didn鈥檛 have enough kids interested and we eventually turned them into a state playoff team,鈥� said Moore who spent four years as a defensive coordinator and nine as head coach for a total of 13 years with the Cee Bees.
Moore left Clay-Battelle for Waynesburg Central with his first stint there lasting 11 years, culminating with the WPIAL championship.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e only as good as your staff and your players,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淏oth places, Clay-Battelle and Waynesburg, I had super coaching staffs and the athletes were great.鈥�
Moore would then enter the college coaching ranks with three years at Washington & Jefferson. He later would spend two years on the Canon-McMillan coaching staff and two years as head coach at Ringgold before returning to Waynesburg for a second stint.
鈥淚 came back the second time and we worked the program back up and got to the playoffs again and if we hadn鈥檛 lost about four key starters near the end of the season we wouldn鈥檛 have had to play South Fayette the first game and I think we could鈥檝e won at least one playoff game,鈥� Moore recalled. 鈥淪outh Fayette had Justin Watson that year who鈥檚 now a receiver in the NFL and won three Super Bowls.
鈥淭hings went a bit downhill after that and I retired from teaching and left Waynesburg for Waynesburg University,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淭his is my eighth year here. I was running backs coach the first three years and the offensive line coach every year after that.鈥�
Moore currently serves under head coach Dr. Cornelius Coleman.
Last year Moore鈥檚 offensive line paved the way for running back Zayne Cawley to rush for 1,278 yards and nine touchdowns with an average of 5.6 yards per carry.
鈥淲e run a lot of outside zone and for that a running back has to be slow and patient and then fast through it,鈥� Moore explained. 鈥淶ayne has great vision to find the hole and hit the bubble. He鈥檚 a lot like the Eveready bunny, he just goes and goes. He鈥檚 not the fastest kid but he鈥檚 just so tough. He鈥檚 not that tall (5-foot-7) and my linemen probably go 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, so that helps a lot when he can get behind them and let them go do their thing. They work together well.鈥�
Cawley and most of the Yellow Jackets鈥� offensive line are back this season.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited for this year,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淚 have three returning starters on our line coming back as seniors.
鈥淲e have Dalton Scruggs (6-5, 350 pounds) who鈥檚 a three-year starter from Maryland. Jacob Brisky (6-3, 280) out of Latrobe will be a four-year starter who came in as a defensive player, never played offense, and I started him his first year and made him my left tackle and he was second-team all-conference last year. We have Isaiah Grenway (6-2, 320) who will be entering his third year as a starter.
鈥淲e also have Kory Ansell (6-2, 285) who came to us last year as a transfer from (PennWest) California. He鈥檚 a Southmoreland kid who I recruited hard in high school, and I ended up getting (wide receiver) Isaac Trout out of there instead.鈥�
Trout had a team-high 41 receptions for the Yellow Jackets last year and returns for his senior season.
鈥淎nsell is listed as a senior but he actually has another year of eligibility after this,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲e got four games out of him last year then he blew out his knee. Right now it鈥檚 touch and go if he鈥檚 going to be ready for game one but he should be our starting center at some point.
鈥淭he fifth starter is Pat Barber (6-4, 290) out of New York. We played him at tackle and he filled in for Kory last year when he went down.
鈥淭hose are our five seniors and we鈥檙e expecting a lot from them. We call them the 鈥榃U Hawgs.鈥� They take a lot of pride in who they are. We even made up T-shirts for them.鈥�
Moore has great confidence in his offensive line despite losing one starter to the transfer portal.
鈥淭he kid from Mapletown, Grant Murin, left us to go D-1 at Robert Morris,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲e took him his freshman year and worked with him and turned him into a college player. Here鈥檚 a kid that came out of single-A that was fairly raw and a year of working with him and then a year of playing as a starter, there were D-1 people that thought he had potential to play at their level. That鈥檚 a compliment to us and our program.鈥�
Waynesburg has a new offensive coordinator this year in Phil Hamilton, who came over from Saint Vincent鈥檚 coaching staff.
鈥淭he last three years we were ground and pound and we would throw when we needed to,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淏ut I think Coach Hamilton is going to throw it a little bit more which is going to get eight people out of the box so the defense won鈥檛 be able to overwhelm our offensive line with numbers, which should be beneficial to us.鈥�
Moore feels this could be the year the Yellow Jackets turn the corner.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been close here at Waynesburg the last eight years about four times and it just ended up not happening, sometimes because we鈥檇 get injury-riddled at the end of the season,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淚 think once we turn that corner and pull out a 6-4 or 7-3 season, recruiting will become a lot easier. More local kids will probably want to come and things will get better. I鈥檓 anxious to see how we do.
鈥淭he whole thing, in high school and at the University, is you鈥檝e got to believe in what鈥檚 going on. You can鈥檛 put a player nor can you put a coach above the team. You鈥檝e got to know and accept your role. Almost everyone coming into college was a superstar in high school and many of them think, oh D-III, that鈥檚 easy. Then they find out real quick this is nothing like high school football, I don鈥檛 care where you played. Our conference is really good. It鈥檚 good football and there are good players.鈥�
The 67-year-old Moore is still happy to be involved in coaching.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 plan on retiring as long as I don鈥檛 run out of places that would hire me,鈥� he said with a laugh.
鈥淢y family, my wife and my daughters, have been a large part in every program I鈥檝e been in. A coach鈥檚 wife is one of the hardest jobs around. The guy is gone a lot and there鈥檚 a lot they have to put up with. But my wife has been so supportive, has done filming for me and still does helmets at the University, does all the decals and things like that. I missed a lot of birthday parties and anniversaries, and when they鈥檙e so understanding, it helps.
鈥淧eople always ask me why I still do it and tell them it鈥檚 for the kids. I love doing it and I love helping them succeed.鈥�