Houston, TX – Texas Southern University will honor the Legacy of Coach Robert “Bob” Moreland by naming the basketball court in the H&PE Arena in his honor. The naming will happen on Monday, February 15th during the Texas Southern vs. Jackson State men’s basketball game at 8:00pm. The unveiling ceremony will take place during half-time of the game.
Moreland served 27 seasons as head coach of the Texas Southern University men’s basketball program. Over his nearly three decades as a Tiger, Moreland has more wins than any coach in the university’s history. He has 406 victories. He also has five SWAC conference championships, two SWAC conference co-championships and three SWAC tournament championships. Moreland is a five time SWAC coach of the year, American wire service 1994 National Coach of the Year and 1994 & 1995 American Wire Service National Black College Champion. He also coached three national scoring champions in Harry Kelly (2-times) and Kevin Granger.
During his career at Texas Southern, coach Moreland had six 20-win seasons including a NAIA National Championship in 1977 and three trips to the NCAA Tournament in the 1990’s (Georgetown University 1990, Duke 1994 & University of Arkansas 1995). Moreland started his coaching career at Greer High School in Carthage, Mississippi, where he coached from 1962 to 1963. The following year he assumed the reigns of Utica Junior College in Utica, Mississippi. While there, he won 78% of his games over a 12 year period. The last 10 years were 20 win seasons, including a 30 win season in his final campaign at Utica Junior College before heading west to Texas Southern University. It only took coach Moreland two seasons to post a 30-win season at TSU and win a national championship in the process. “All I ever thought about was coaching and winning,” said Moreland, “I never thought about the number of victories I would win.”
Moreland earned his bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Tougaloo College (1962) and his Master’s (1969) and Directorate (1972) Degrees from the University of Indiana. Coach Moreland was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in December 2007 and he received the “SWAC Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award” for contributions to the Southwestern Athletic Conference in December 2009. He is also a inductee into the Tougaloo University Hall of Fame and Hines Community College Hall of Fame.
