Do you remember the Lady Mocs win over Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament?
 
Wes Moore does too, but that's not really the memories of Chattanooga that he carries with him.
 
"I don't really remember, now when I look back on it, a whole lot of victories," Chattanooga's winningest coach said. "There are a few that stand out, but mostly when I look back and reflect, it's about the people and the players, the staff and those things. That's what you miss and what you have the greatest memories of."
 
In 15 seasons on the bench, Moore coached eight Southern Conference Players of the Year, a Freshman of the Year and eight earned SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Three of his student-athletes were named the SoCon's Athlete of the Year and he'd be the last to tell you that he was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year six times.
 
Names like Jennifer Wilson, Damita Bullock, Brooke Hand and Alex Anderson are easily recalled by many, but it's not only their work on the court that he recalls. He remembers their work in the classroom and in the community.

"Winning contributed to fan support," he said. "But it was the kind of kids we had. I loved it when people would come over to me at lunch and say "Your players read to our kids," or "they did a basketball clinic." I think that helps when the people in the community see the quality of basketball players you have in your program. They want to share in it."
 
Fan support for UTC has grown exponentially with its move into the "Roundhouse" from the cozy digs of Maclellan Gym in Moore's first season. It was with the commitment of former Chancellor Dr. Bill Stacy that the Lady Mocs made McKenzie Arena home.
 
"Dr. Stacy, of course, made a big difference," Moore said. "He made a commitment to us playing in the arena and that made all the difference in the world. I felt like it was a great opportunity. It wasn't quite the same as playing in Maclellan Gym. For recruiting, it wasn't quite the same."
 
Without that commitment, the women would never have been able to host Tennessee in 2004 in front of a record 10,051 fans and boast the largest attendance in the SoCon year in and year out.
 
While home was a fun place to play, the Lady Mocs made trips to places like New York, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Cancun and San Diego as well as Washington, D.C., Miami and San Francisco. But it's one trip to a familiar location that stands out.
 
"You take them places like Cancun and stay in an all-inclusive resort. You take them to Hawaii for almost a week and it's funny," Moore recalled. "You have a player like Jennifer Wilson saying her favorite trip was going to App State and playing in the snow.
 
The team had played at Furman in the first game of the road trip and it was snowing so hard he was told that there was no way they'd made it to Boone that night on the icy roads. But Moore pushed aside the doubters and the bus driver was able to get them up the mountain and to their hotel at 2:00 a.m.
 
"I thought I don't have to worry about them tonight," he said. "Next thing I know, they're knocking on my door saying "let's go have a snow ball fight."
 
The next day the team knocked on a neighbor's door across the road from the hotel and asked if she would let them slide down her hill. She even provided sleds.
 
"The next day we spent hours riding sleds and inner tubes down the hill," Moore said. "I'm worried that they are going to be worn out and not able to get up and down the court. Instead it was one of the best games ever. A lot of energy.
 
"I think it goes back to the team that's happy and fun, play a whole lot better together. Sometimes we need to be reminded of that. We get too serious about it and don't take the time to enjoy the moments you have."
 
The players, staff, fans and fun led to one of the most successful coaching runs in Chattanooga and the Southern Conference. It may not have looked that way in the first season with just 10 wins and knocked out of the conference tournament in the first round, but the next season would be just the start of a magical run that filled the seats and made Chattanooga feared.
 
After that first dismal season, Moore and the Lady Mocs bounced back to win 26 games for the NCAA's greatest turnaround that year.
 
"That shows you how great the coaching was," Moore said humble tone. "We won 10 games our first year. The next year we ran the same stuff, did the same things and won 26 games. It was because we had some great players come in."
 
He also attributes the Lady Mocs' performance in the WNIT in 2000 as a big part of the programs' success. UTC went 17-1 in the SoCon regular season to win its first league title in Moore's run and first in eight years. However, a loss to UNCG in conference tournament semifinal round sent Chattanooga home with a bid to the WNIT.
 
"We played in the WNIT that year and beat Alabama," Moore recalled. "I think that kind of jump started our program a little bit. We got some notice."
 
The next year UTC won the regular season title again and was pitted against UNCG again in the tournament, but this time it was in the title game. The Lady Mocs were struggling to shoot the ball, missing so many that they had 25 offensive rebounds.
 
"We hung in there," Moore said. "Nneka Irons hit her only three of that game, maybe her only shot. That allowed us to win the game and go to the NCAAs.
 
"You think about how hard that would have been if two years in a row you had been the regular season champions but lose in the tournament. It would be hard to take that next step."
 
Other wins that stand out for Moore is the NCAA Tournament win over Rutgers and the Lady Mocs' win over Tennessee in Holly Warlick's debut.
 
"The Rutgers win was special and the win over Tennessee. Those are the ones that stand out," Moore said.
 
"Another one is when we played Samford on the road. It was the last game of the year. It was for the regular season title and we were able to win that game. Those are the wins that stand out."
 
Moore led the Lady Mocs to 12 Southern Conference regular season titles, including an unprecedented 11 straight and nine conference tournament crowns. UTC advanced to the postseason 13 times with nine of those in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Moore is the winningest coach in Chattanooga and Southern Conference history with 358 wins and won 76 percent of his games. He led the Lady Mocs to a 214-43 record against the league and won 83.3 percent of games played at the Roundhouse.
 
He topped 500 career wins while at Chattanooga and is ranked among the best all-time in the NCAA.
 
During his tenure, Chattanooga had 37 all-tournament selections, 36 all-conference performers, six all-freshman team members and two student-athletes received the Ann Lashley Inspiration Award.
 
Moore led the Lady Mocs to three of the longest win streaks in school history including a 27-game streak that started after a loss in Miami to UTC's NCAA Tournament win over Rutgers.
 
There weren't many losses, but some of those tend to stand out.
 
"The one you remember is the year we got beat down in Miami by Butler," Moore said. "We changed the starting lineup some, which I rarely do. We made that change and we started winning. I don't know that I was really in tune with that lineup change for the long haul, but when you win 27 in a row, it's kind of hard to flip back."
 
That lineup led Chattanooga to its best record in school history at 29-3 (.906). Moore averaged nearly 25 wins per year with 13 seasons of 20 or more victories. Three times, UTC went undefeated against the league including a SoCon-record 20-0 season in 2003-04.
 
Before he came to Chattanooga, Moore had great success at other schools. He is the only coach to take a team from all three NCAA divisions to the NCAA Tournament and one of two to take four different teams into the postseason. Jim Foster is the other.
 
Maryville went to the NCAA in five of his six years at the DIII level while Division II Francis Marion made it twice in his three seasons.
 
Moore has always been pursued for "bigger and better" opportunities throughout his career. He turned down jobs while at Francis Marion that made legendary coach Pat Summitt ask him why.
 
"I told her that I'd rather win at a D2 than get beat at a D1," Moore related. "I had many opportunities over the years to make a whole lot more money and maybe be in a bigger conference. When the Chattanooga opportunity was there I knew it was a sleeping giant and that we could do some great things."
 
And great things he did. A Hall of Fame career's worth of great things.
 
I felt all along that it could be a special place, and it is," Moore said of his former home. "It was an unbelievable ride."