Too much, too soon
Moore wasn’t ready to succeed late stepfather as Lighthouse boys basketball coach
I have empathy for former Lighthouse boys basketball coach Nick Moore.
I knew Moore would be fired the second the video showing him tossing a chair during a game crossed my Twitter feed. Moore got what he deserved. He threw the chair underneath the Lions’ basket after one of his players was called for traveling during a 92-91 loss at Bowman on Jan. 29. There are no excuses for that type of behavior.
Moore was 20-38 over three forgettable seasons after replacing his late stepfather, Marvin Rea.
The chair toss went viral on the internet. It was picked up by Chicago media. The Indianapolis Star ran a story about it. Twitter was abuzz, mostly with outrage at Moore.
I watched video of the game leading to the moment Moore chucked the chair to see whether I could try to get a deeper understanding of Moore’s rage.
Surely, I thought, the officiating must have been so awful that Moore just lost his mind.
But it wasn’t, at least from what I could see.
I’ve been in Northwest Indiana gyms where games are borderline out of control because of poor officiating. That’s when you hold onto your seat and hope something awful doesn’t happen before the clock hits zero.
This wasn’t one of those situations.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bowman gym was half-empty. It was a small but spirited crowd.
It was nothing like it could’ve been if the place was full. That gym is ear-piercingly loud and unforgiving in normal situations for a big game.
This was just a regular high school basketball game.
Sure, the officials missed a few calls, like they always do. But it wasn’t atrocious.
Right before Moore threw the chair, it appeared Bowman could’ve been called for a foul in the backcourt on a play that resulted in a Lighthouse turnover.
That seemed to set Moore off. Then came the infamous call. With 6:32 left, a Lighthouse player was called for traveling. It was a questionable call.
Moore didn’t start screaming at the officials like coaches sometimes do. He threw his hands up in exasperation, walked to a chair and started to pick it up. An assistant grabbed him and stopped him.
A few seconds later, he walked to the end of the bench and threw the chair. He reached for a chair for a third time but was stopped by an assistant.
In a span of about 15 seconds, Moore had turned his professional world upside down.
Why did Moore do it?
You don’t throw chairs to show your players that you have their backs. That’s bad judgment.
There was something larger in play here.
Moore was overwhelmed because he had the honor and burden of following Rea. That incident was just the moment he snapped.
In 2010, Moore helped lead Bowman to its first state title. Moore was Rea’s coach on the floor.
Think about it.
Your stepfather dies in a car crash three games into the 201718 season, and you later are called to replace him as the permanent coach.
Rea, who won two state titles and had two runner-up finishes at Bowman, will be in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame someday.
Moore had worked as an assistant at Lighthouse for a season when he was picked to be the head coach.
He wasn’t ready. He even said he was surprised he got hired for it.
I covered Rea’s last game as coach. Lighthouse lost to Lake Central 86-82 on Nov. 29, 2017. He was giddy after the loss. He had that look in his eye. He was going to turn Lighthouse into a powerhouse. He died in a crash outside of Lafayette a week later.
It was heartbreaking and tragic. The best coach in Gary’s history died in his prime. Rea was 49.
Moore unwittingly was put in a bad position by the administrators who hired him. He wasn’t ready. It’s their fault too.
And Jan. 29 was the day it came crashing down.
If Moore wants to coach again, he should go somewhere far from Gary where he’s not in the shadow of his stepfather. I hope he does. He deserves another chance.