Big Ten Notebook: Wisconsin still reeling from Howard Moore's family tragedy
ROSEMONT, Ill. — The horrific and senseless car accident that took the lives of Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore's wife and daughter last summer and still haunting the Badgers' basketball program, coach Greg Gard said Wednesday.
“It’s unchartered territory. There’s not a manual for how you handle those things, not a road map,'' Gard said. "We’ve always had a very tight-knit family and group here, and we’ve tried to do all we can for Howard and his family. Something like this, it just takes that whole different level.
"It's just unfathomable, it really is, to see what they have to go through. It's terrible what they've had to go through these last four months.''
Last May 25, when Moore and his family were visiting relatives in the Detroit area, a 23-year-old woman who was 2.5 times over the legal limit for alcohol, crashed into the Moore family's car while she was driving the wrong way down a Michigan highway. Moore's wife, Jennifer, and the couple's daughter, 9-year-old Jaidyn, were killed. Moore was severely injured. Their 13-year-old son Jerell was in the car as well, and survived without any major injuries.
Moore, who has had two stints as an assistant at Wisconsin and was the head coach at Illinois-Chicago from 2010 through 2015, is back in Madison now with his son. He is in a long-term rehabilitation facility and his parents have moved to town to help take care of Jerell. Gard said he talks often with Moore and he just saw him last week.
"You wouldn't wish that upon your worst enemy,'' Gard said. "It's really been a day-to-day process, right from the day of the accident and flying to Michigan that first day to be with him and Jerell. There were two different times when he was in the hospital over there in Michigan when I went to see him and, of course, I've seen him several times since he's come back to Madison.''
Moore, a Chicago native who also played at Wisconsin from 1990-95, had a heart attack in June, which has complicated his recovery, as well. He will not coach this year as he goes through rehabilitation.
"There are many days you just don't have words for all he's going through. Our staff and our coach's wife were impacted too, because they were so close to Jen and Jaidyn. You just try to support them the best way possible.
"He's trying to work himself back to good health, and he's making steps in the right direction. They're incremental steps, but he's going in the right direction. He's making steady progress and he's got a lot of support.''
Despite the deep and painful losses, Gard said Moore's attitude is good. That also doesn't surprise him, considering the positive attitude Moore always has.
"With Howard, he's always been that guy who's glass has been half full,'' Gard said. "He's still got his son. His parents and family have been a huge support, and the Wisconsin family is there for him, too.
"Jerell is back in school now. He's been around our guys a lot this summer and he came to practice last week, too, which was great. The players have been great with him. They took him to a movie this summer, and they'll go play video games with him. Obviously, he knows all our guys well, and they text and talk, and do all those social media things.''
Gard said the entire episode has been hard on him, too, but he's grateful to be surrounded by so many people in his own program, and they all work through things together.
"If you're ever going to walk through something this tragic, I couldn't have asked to be surrounded by better people. Those guys on my staff (Joe Krabbenhoft, Dean Oliver and interim coach Alondo Tucker) have been great, and they all know what it's like to play in this league, and play on the professional level, so they're great with our guys and great with recruiting.
"They are all close to Howard and his family too, and we all know Howard would want us to keep on working hard. We'll do that, of course, but he and Jerell are always going to be on our minds.''
Wisconsin Badgers assistant coach Howard Moore (right) talks with forward Ethan Happ during the game with the Green Bay Phoenix at the Kohl Center. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Chris Collins: 'I'm not the best player in the room anymore'
At the Big Ten coaches dinner Tuesday night, Northwestern coach Chris Collins welcomed newcomers Juwan Howard (Michigan) and Fred Holberg (Nebraska) to the league.
"When you look in the room and you're among all the heads coaches, you feel honored to be part of such a great group,'' Collins said. "Although personally, I'm a little down because I used to feel really good about being in the room, about me being the best player in the room.
"And if I'm being quite honest, I think I just got knocked down a couple pegs with those guys.''
Howard, the first-year coach at Michigan, was part of the Wolverines' great Fab Five teams in the early 1990s and had a long NBA career. So did Holberg, who was "The Mayor'' during his days at Iowa State and has since coached the Cyclones and the NBA's Chicago Bulls.
You could have put together a pretty good team back in the day with these Big Ten coaches. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery and new Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren actually played together at Penn back in the day, and Collins remembers that well, too, because he was a ballboy on those teams because he dad, Doug, was a volunteer coach at the time.
Collins was asked if he put himself ahead of Indiana coach Archie Miller, too. Miller was an outstanding point guard at N.C. State in the years just after Collins left Duke.
"Oh yeah, I'm in front of Archie for sure, and you be sure you tell him I said so,'' Collins said with a laugh. "Not that he would have an argument, but just look at the stats. No argument at all, and you tell him that.''
Northwestern Wildcats head coach Chris Collins addresses the media during the Big Ten conference NCAA college basketball media day at Hilton Rosemont. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sport
Commissioner Jim Delany says goodbye
Jim Delany's three-decade tenure as commissioner of the Big Ten is about to end. His last day is Jan. 1, and he's had a tremendous run in turning the league into the best — and most profitable — conference in the country.
Looking backwards, I'm really pleased with the quality and the quantity of the teams and the players that we have been able to put out there on behalf of the Big Ten, especially over the last 20 years or so,'' Delany said. "We led the country for 43 years in attendance. We also have more media partners than any other conference, so all of our games are nationally telecast, and in particular I think the growth of BTN has really aided and supported Big Ten basketball. But to have CBS, FOX, and ESPN regularly promoting marketing of Big Ten teams, I think is really good.''
Delany said he and Warren have been working closely the last month or so to ease the transition.
On Jan. 2, he'll take over. Jan. 1 is my last date, but it's been a really great experience. I've gotten to know him really well,'' Delany said. "He's an experienced guy, trained as a lawyer, has an MBA degree, has worked for a couple of NFL franchises. But the real insight that he brings, I think, is as a former player himself and his kids played. His daughter was a track and field person at Occidental, and his son is a football player at Mississippi State.
"So between his own personal experiences, his education, his career, and now the opportunity to spend three months together working on a daily basis and put faces and organizations together, I think has been really constructive. A lot of people say you can't have two people in the same office in this kind of way, but for us it's been uniformly positive, and it's been great to get to know him. I think he'll be a great leader in the Big Ten Conference in the years to come.''
