Texas Southern brings back Moreland as interim coach

By Brandon C. Williams, Houston Chronicle

TSU names Moreland as interim basketball coach

Texas Southern University's search for a men's basketball coach led the Tigers to a trusted and familiar face of past glories.

Robert Moreland, who coached TSU for 26 seasons, was named the interim head coach, ending for now a lengthy search that concluded just eight days before the start of fall practice.

"This is just for this season,'' said Moreland on Friday morning. "TSU had a need, and I felt I had to answer the call.''

Moreland coached the Tigers from 1974-2001, leading the school to 399 wins, 10 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and three appearances in the NCAA Tournament (1990, 1994, 1995). He will be named to the SWAC Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Ala. on Dec. 13.

He will be replacing Ronnie Courtney, who was fired after four seasons in July. Courtney's departure began the process of finding a permanent coach, one that will continue throughout the season.

"We felt it was important to have a coach on board as expeditiously as possible,'' said TSU interim president J. Timothy Boddie, Jr. "At the same time, we felt it was too important a decision to rush. Having coach Moreland assume the interim role allows us time to make a more thougthful search for a permanent coach.''

Boddie approached Moreland - who has served as a professor at the school for the last six years - about the role earlier this week. It was a decision that didn't take the coach long to make.

"I was satisfied with what I was doing,'' he said. "My love of coaching never left me, but the idea of doing it wasn't, which is why I never seriously considered any coaching offers.''

Moreland will begin practice on Oct. 13 with just eight scholarship players and will likely have to fill out the roster with walk-ons before the Tigers' Nov. 10 season opener at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

"Right now, my biggest challenge will be finding out who these players are on a personal level,'' said Moreland, who plans to spend the weekend meeting with them. "I want to let them know we are a team and talk to them about my philosophy and my expectations for this season.

"I think we can be competitive with eight players, but we do want enough players to have practice and have depth in case of injuries.''

Despite the challenges in front of him, Moreland is excited about the upcoming season.

"I haven't quite kicked into coaching mode yet,'' he said. "I'm just going to take this one step at a time.''