Moser brings winning culture to Loyola-Chicago
DALLAS – Emblazoned across the front of T-shirts worn by the Loyola-Chicago men’s basketball team during warm-ups is this: “Created By Culture.”
It’s not a hollow slogan or empty words.
The principles of “Loyola Culture” occupy a wall inside the Ramblers locker room on campus. Covering the maroon wall in white lettering are maxims such as, “WHEN THE BALL MOVES, YOU MOVE,” “FAKE A PASS TO MAKE A PASS” and “NEVER DRIBBLE A LOOSE BALL.”
On and on it goes, and on and on the 11th-seeded Loyola Ramblers (29-5) have gone, heading for the Sweet 16 after South Region victories vs. No. 6 seed Miami (Fla.) and No. 3 seed Tennessee and touting a culture instilled by head coach Porter Moser.
Along with their 98-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, the undersized Ramblers have become darlings of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s no secret we’re not the biggest team,” senior guard Ben Richardson said Saturday after the 63-62 victory against Tennessee. “But coach teaches, and he’s been preaching since I got here, just principles and culture and things that you can reference on every little part of a possession.
“He was preaching before the game, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. I know that’s cliché, but that’s something we’ve really embraced, and we’ve embraced every part of our culture well this year.”
Moser looked on with approval, having just watched his team outrebound substantially bigger Tennessee 27-24. Not long ago, however, all this seemed improbable, if not impossible.
In 2011, after he took over a Loyola program that hadn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1985, Moser’s team went 7-23.
“It was tough,” he said. “I mean, it’s been a grass-roots rebuild. Everything from a couple hundred people at games to during games to ... I remember my family members said they would walk through the student union and there were more people in the student union than in the arena.”
Two more losing seasons followed. Then the Ramblers went 24-13, only to revert with a 15-17 record the next season before going 18-14 in 2016-17.
Moser kept talking about the culture and a big breakthrough.
“And I’m blessed, so blessed that Loyola University, the administrators, the fan bases, they were steadfast on how I was saying I was going to do it with good kids, good people,” Moser said.
“I know fan bases all over want it so fast, they want it so fast. And it’s hard. It’s hard to have a rebuild because you’ve got to get your kids in there that you recruit. And you’re not going to hit on the first recruiting class. ...
“So it takes time to get those kids where your recruiting class comes in, and the older kids are like, this is how our culture is.”
The promised payoff, well, here it is seven years after Moser arrived. The Ramblers went 27-5 and clinched a berth to the NCAA tournament by winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, rolling on with the continued prayers of their beloved 98-yearold nun.
Then the big upsets, with Donte Ingram hitting a last-second three-pointer to topple Miami, Clayton Custer hitting the winner against Tennessee with 3.6 seconds left and a new hero seemingly ready to emerge any night.
Said Custer, “I think that that just speaks to the culture in our program.”