JagBytes

Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Sports

IUPUI Director of Athletics Michael Moore.

Director of Athletics Michael Moore's office is decorated with family pictures, IUPUI championship rings and other forms of recognition he has received over the years.To the right of his desk hangs a poster of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out in the first minute of the first round of their 1965 title fight. The bottom of the poster reads, "Impossible is nothing."

It would be easy to dismiss the poster as yet another example of the motivational material people put on their walls, but never really try to apply to their lives. A person does not have to know Moore for very long to understand how the message on the Ali poster isn't just something he looks at from time to time when things aren't going his way.

Moore has an extremely driven personality and he presents the attitude that nothing is impossible.

Moore gives all of the credit for IUPUI's athletic success to the coaches and the student-athletes, but it has been his direction that has allowed for these successes.

"Mike understands the demand of coaches and difficulty of building a strong basketball program," said Coach Ron Hunter via e-mail after arriving in Fairbanks, Alaska for the BP Top of the World Classic. "He has a good rapport with the athletes and truly believes in the student athlete experience."

Moore loves his job. He says he can only recall a few days in his entire career when he wasn't excited about coming to work.

"Quite frankly, you get to work with a pretty big group of type-A personalities and people who are motivated," said Moore. "It's never dull."

Moore graduated from Ohio University in 1978 with a history degree. He stayed at the university for two more years and received his masters from one of the premier sports administration programs in the country.

"They call it the Ohio U. Mafia, because you can't go to any convention without seeing 20-30 alums from Ohio U," said Moore of his fellow alumni.

After leaving Ohio, Moore worked in the ticket office at Vanderbilt University as an intern before he found his first position at Davidson College in North Carolina as a member of the fundraising department. He stayed at Davidson until 1983.

In 1983, Moore moved back to the Midwest and became the assistant athletic director for budgetary at the University of Evansville (UE). Within five years, he worked his way up to senior associate director of athletics and development.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools