Oregon Improves to 11-0 with Civil War Win over Beavers
UO volleyball coach Jim Moore won his school-record 197th match in Wednesday's Civil War,
(EUGENE, Ore. ) — Moments after victory No. 197 went into the books, making him the winningest coach in UO volleyball history, Jim Moore stood near center court in Matthew Knight Arena, glaring at a box score.
Moore's Ducks had just finished off Oregon State on Wednesday night, winning their conference opener to improve to 11-0 this season. Oregon swept the Beavers in three sets, but the big picture — the Civil War victory, the school record for wins — was lost on Moore. He was stewing over the fact OSU pushed the second set to 27-25 despite a .078 hitting percentage, and that Oregon had a 20-9 lead in set three before allowing the Beavers back within 24-19.
"We made this way too hard," Moore said. "You can't play to have to get 20 kills every set. It's too hard. They played great. They gave us no points, basically, and we gave them a lot of points, especially in the second set. I'm glad we came out hard in the third; we didn't finish well."
That sort of attitude — that Moore's 98 defeats probably stick out in his head more than the 197 wins — explains why Moore is now the most successful volleyball coach in Oregon's history. Wins are nice, but losses are the real motivators; the sting of defeats radiates so long, so hard, he works tirelessly trying to avoid experiencing it again. All good coaches have that in them, but few wear it so openly as does Moore.
Even some of Moore's greatest triumphs are filed away in his memory as defeats. One of the most memorable matches in his UO tenure was a five-set thriller with defending national champion and No. 4-ranked Washington in 2006. A year after going 1-17 in conference, the Ducks took the mighty Huskies to five sets, only to lose, 16-14.
Moral victory, one that illustrated how quickly Moore had made the Ducks competitive? All Moore remembers is trying to comfort a sobbing Erin Little afterward. "It was absolutely gut-wrenching," he said.
Moore told that story, of all times, to a group of UO fans prior to Thursday's Civil War. The other uplifting memory from a historic career that he shared? Losing in the 2012 NCAA Finals to Texas.
"It was awesome to get to the finals — but it sucks to get to the finals and lose," Moore said. "It hurts. I don't know how else to describe it than, it hurts a lot. And it's harder as you get older."
The head coach isn't alone in his hatred for defeat, and the motivation it inspires to achieve greatness — or perhaps more accurately, to avoid mediocrity at all costs. He can see his own image in his top assistant, and his best player.
Over the summer, Moore coached a team of Pac-12 all-stars that played a series of matches in China. During a break in the tour, Moore's wife and assistant coach, Stacy Metro, went shopping. She haggled local shop owners so aggressively — over a difference in price as small as $1.50, Moore recalls — that cries of "mean lady, mean lady" followed her out the door.
"(Her attitude) was, I'm winning," said Moore, whose intense interactions with his wife on the bench don't typically betray the fact they are indeed married. "And if she couldn't win, she just left."
Moore is competitive but not inflexible. With two talented setters, and depth at outside hitter that is best taken advantage with a deep rotation, Moore is fielding a 6-2 rotation — two setters rotating with six attacking players — rather than a 5-1.
But one player never comes off the floor. That's senior Liz Brenner, whose play Thursday illustrated her own will to win — and to avoid the heartache of defeat.
After Oregon generally commanded the first set, 25-22, the Ducks couldn't establish any rhythm in the second. Oregon State had an early 4-1 lead, and while the Ducks tied it a couple times, they could never string together enough points to pull ahead.
That changed at 22-20, when Moore angrily called a timeout, mostly to allow him time to vehemently protest an official's call. The coach's fire proved contagious. Oregon quickly tied it, and at 22-22, Brenner had two digs plus the kill that gave the Ducks their first lead in the set since 1-0. Oregon State called timeout, and on the next point Brenner had two more digs as Oregon scored another point, on the way to a 27-25 win.
Brenner finished with seven kills and 10 digs in the second set alone, on her way to 14 and 14 for the evening. The hyper-competitive coach and hyper-competitive player had worked in concert beautifully, at the match's most pivotal point all night. "He wants to see the best out of me, and I want to perform my best for him," Brenner said. "He never settles for anything less than what I can give."
Moore's competitiveness comes through more than just on the volleyball court. Over the summer, the team went on a river-rafting trip, and the Ducks were intent on seeing their coach dumped into the water. Over and again, a player would try to catch him off-guard; each time they failed, Moore would crow that he couldn't be soaked.
He finally was, through strength in numbers. "It took like three of us to finally tackle him and get him in," Brenner recalled.
Moore's pregame talk to fans lasted close to a half-hour Thursday, all the way up until about 20 minutes before the first tip. Some 25 minutes in, someone pointed to a clock on the wall as if to say, uh, sir, don't you need to go coach a game? "Why are you pointing?" Moore said. "I've got plenty of time." He was in command, as usual.
At practice, Martenne Bettendorf said, the Ducks joke that, "it's Jim's world, we just live in it." A ball could go caroming off wildly into the stands, but he'll rule that it had been touched for a point, partly to help his team deal with the adversity a match will inevitably present. "But also," Bettendorf said, "to make sure we know he's in charge."
When someone hates to lose as much as Moore does, he's going to make sure he's got every last detail under control. That's the best way to minimize exposure to those defeats that never really go away.
"It's only a relief when you win," Moore said. "There's no real fun in it. Don't get me wrong — it's awesome, and I love doing it. But that's the bad side to it."
Moore got to experience some of that relief Wednesday. He's been relieved 197 times now, more than any coach in UO history. But it's the losses that will keep him coming back for win No. 198 next time around, determined to avoid the sting of defeat one more day.
Source: goducks.com
Highlights: Volleyball vs Oregon State 9-24:
