Former University of Oregon head volleyball coach Jim Moore has been hired as the new coach at the local Churchill High School in Eugene. His wife Stacy Metro, who was his assistant at Oregon and the head beach volleyball coach, is expected to join him on the Churchill staff, according to the Register-Guard. Morre and Metro’s youngest son, Michael, is currently a senior at the school.
“We were approached and asked if we would be interested in doing that because they had an opening,” Moore told the Register-Guard. “It’s what we do.”
The coaches left the University of Oregon under a cloud – the official verbiage is that Moore “stepp(ed) down,” but the release made it clear that it was not a decision taken without input from the Athletics Department. The move came after complaints from several players that his coaching style and what former player Maya Crittenden called “degrading” and “cruel” treatment by the two coaches that included body shaming.
“Coach Moore and the UO have come to realize that his coaching style is mismatched with the standards of the University of Oregon athletic department,” the release said. “He has acknowledged that his coaching style may have been viewed negatively by some student-athletes and, for that, he is sorry.”
Other players refuted the claims, saying they were untrue and that the athletes involved weren’t taking responsibility for their part.
Moore spent 28 years as a college coach, including stops at Northern Michigan, Chico State, Texas, Kansas State, and back to Northern Michigan – where he won an NCAA Division II title.
He also spent 9 years as a high school coach in Southern California, including winning a state title with Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California in 1981.
“We’re staying here and we thought we could help,” Moore said. “And it’ll be an opportunity to show that we take care of kids.”
“I think it’s a pretty unique opportunity for us,” athletic director Kelly Bokn said. “Jim obviously has an incredible resume and experience with coaching at several different levels. … I’m obviously aware that his departure at the University of Oregon wasn’t a ticker-tape parade. But I was just really genuinely impressed with his reasons for wanting to kind of give back to his community and to our school by coaching kids at Churchill and I think it’s pretty neat that he’s willing to do that.”
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