Minneapolis Local Tamara Moore Discusses Making Coaching History and Connection to YWCA Minneapolis
Former WNBA player Tamara Moore, a Minneapolis local, is a trailblazer in American sports. As the second woman to ever coach a men’s college team at Mesabi Range and the first African American woman to do so, she has shattered barriers and set new standards.
Tamara recently shared her journey with us, from her playing days to her coaching career and her deep connection to YWCA Minneapolis.
Tamara Moore Interview
What advice do you give women and girls who aspire to become coaches?
My first line of advice is don’t show any intimidation. This is a male-dominated sport. I’ve never coached against another female counterpart. I’ve never had a female ref. You’re going to be around and involved with many male counterparts. Never show intimidation.
I have to do it right so there can be opportunities for women in the future. I hope I’m opening the door for it to become the norm, where it’s just normal to see a woman coaching at any level, whether it’s male or female, in high school, college, the NBA or the WNBA.
People always ask me if I’m only trying to stay on the men’s side. I want to elevate, wherever that is.
It was a great opportunity to coach with the Celtics summer league team. If I can get that high, I want to get that high. I want to take it as far as I can. I’m taking it in stride, doing the best that I can and creating a winning program wherever I go.
The first three seasons I’ve actually been on the sidelines at Mesabi, we made it to the playoffs. We’ve never finished less than third in the conference.
I average 20-plus players in my program every year, and I have the highest retention rate of players. I pride myself on being able to bring something to a higher standard and leave it in good hands when I leave.
I think the other thing is that I pay homage to women who came before me, like Becky Hammon, a former teammate who coached with the San Antonio Spurs for many years and who is now the Las Vegas Aces head coach. Also, Teresa Weatherspoon, who was coaching with the New Orleans Pelicans and is now the head coach of the Chicago Sky.
Everyone says I keep making firsts. Well, there has to be a first, so there can be a second, third and fourth.
What was the basketball landscape like during your prep career in Minneapolis?
I always seemed to be on the front end of just benefitting. Title IX passed in 1979, and I was born in 1980. Once I got to high school, we started to see the effects of how Title IX was becoming more effective at getting girls involved in sports.
Playing in middle school, I didn’t even know they had high school basketball until I was brought to a boys’ high school game. At that time, boys and girls played on the same night. Varsity girls would play first, and varsity boys would play second. It gave me a chance to say, “Oh, I could play high school ball.”
I got into high school and realized I could play college ball. By the time I was playing high school ball that’s when the WNBA came into existence in 1997.
Seeing the dynamic of where [prep basketball] is now, there are so many more ways and outlets for kids to get exposure, whether it’s YouTube, Huddle, or whatever social media platform you’re using. There are so many forms of exposure, I think it’s great.
You had a distinguished collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin.
Tell us about your style of play.
My game was based on defense. I could score, but I was a tenacious defender. You might not score 15-20 points every night, but you can stop someone from scoring 15-20.
In high school, I was a top scorer as a small forward/power forward. I was able to hone my skills on the outside and also get some low-block play. When I got to college, I converted to point guard and scored over 1,600 points. That’s where that leadership style came from, and being more on the ball when it came to creating, calling offenses and things like that.
Being a contributor on both ends, knowing that defense could lead to offense, that was my calling card.
Who were some of your favorite players?
One of my favorite players is Chamique Holdsclaw; she was one of my mentors in high school. She was a star athlete at the University of Tennessee and is now a Naismith Hall of Famer. She won three national championships and multiple high school championships. I really got a chance to know her personally, and I looked up to her.
It was hard because, growing up in high school, there weren’t a lot of women that you knew about. Obviously, my role models were Michael Jordan and players like that because that was all you could really watch on a national scale.
When it came to the WNBA, I looked up to and had a great opportunity to play women like Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi, Becky Hammon, Cheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. Some of the best women who ever played the game.
What has Caitlin Clark done for the state of women’s athletics in this country?
I think she’s bringing the attention we wished was always there. She’s showing that there’s a skill that women possess. You can shoot the 30-foot jump shot for three. She’s showing the tenaciousness of doing a little smack-talking and being aggressive.
I think sometimes people take that away from women when it comes to how aggressive you can be on the court and how much you can talk on the court. That’s more of how they see a man being.
When someone can score as many points as she’s scored and have over 1,000 assists, she’s showing a dynamic side to women’s basketball that we haven’t seen. She’s had a lot more turnovers in the WNBA, but she’s playing against grown women.
I think the big thing is that she has had the opportunity to open more eyes and make it more spectacular.
You played six seasons in the WNBA and six overseas. How did those experiences differ?
I played four seasons in Israel and two in France. Each international team could have five American men or three American women. They love watching Americans play basketball. The stark contrast is being able to play in front of the hometown crowd.
In the WNBA, there’s no language barrier. Schedule-wise, you are [overseas] for eight months because the WNBA is only four months. You play one game a week [overseas]. That’s a lot different than the WNBA, where you might play three or four games in a week.
Money-wise, when you’re overseas, the team pays your taxes. In the WNBA, you get your paycheck, and you have to pay your income tax in every state that you play in.
It has its benefits and hardships, but it’s the most amazing experience.
What was it like to experience other cultures playing internationally?
I wasn’t very experienced when it came to food. France was my very first overseas opportunity, so I had to open myself up. They don’t have a lot of fast-food restaurants overseas. France only had three: McDonald’s, KFC and Quick. To me, it wasn’t very good, so it made me cook more for myself and get out to the grocery stores. Maybe not speaking the language, but being able to find Poulet or different delicacies.
I remember one situation, my teammate was getting steak tartar. As an American, you hear “steak.” When it came to the table, it was a raw piece of beef with salt and pepper, melded together with egg.
I was like, “That’s good. They’ve got that seasoned up real good. They gonna put it on the grill?” She said that’s it, and I said, “That’s raw meat.”
It wasn’t appealing to me. I’m used to that being cooked. Eventually, I tried escargot and alligator. I got a chance to try a lot more, and it opened my mind up to a lot more different things.
I had to be open and willing to experience other cultures, which has helped me so much now in my older life.
How did you make the transition to coaching?
I always knew I was going to be a coach. It’s going to sound cliché, but I knew from the time Michael Jordan and the Bulls were winning those championships that I wanted to be a coach.
I would run to my room, grab my notepad, make my own makeshift stat sheet, and watch those Bulls teams. I picked up my first basketball at 10, but now I’m watching it on TV. That’s when I started honing my skills by taking stats. Then I elevated seeing if I could draw up the play that they just rolled. I was building my IQ from an early age.
When I was in high school, I was on varsity, but I helped with the freshman team. There were a couple of games where I actually coached our freshman team. I helped with the freshman team. I’d get dressed during the junior varsity game, and then I would play the varsity game.
I really got into it after I first sustained my first major injury, which derailed my playing career. I got my first head coaching in high school job.
It was a great experience helping mold the next generation of athletes. I continued to do that, coached some AAU and then developed my own semipro men’s team in 2016. I ran it for five years, was also the head coach, and we won a championship.
I realized that I just wanted to coach basketball in any area. That’s when the Mesabi job came to fruition. Basketball, for me, I just feel like it’s in my DNA.
Tell us about your connection to YWCA Women’s Basketball leagues.
I’ve been playing in this summer league for years and I used to work here a long time ago. It’s always been dear to me because it gave me a place to play during the offseason.
Even when I wasn’t playing professionally, I knew I could still play in a league and create memories.
My mom and I played in a league at the same time. All the years she got to watch me play, now I could sit and watch her play and support her.
[My mom] played five seasons in the Silver Fox leagues. Before playing in this league, she had never played organized basketball. It wasn’t big when she was growing up. Just looking at all the opportunities that weren’t afforded…they might go to the rec center and shoot, but it wasn’t like a team.
When she played in the Silver Fox league, she was the oldest player at the time, and she did it for five years. If you’ve ever seen her bite her bottom lip, you know to just get out of the way. She loved it, it was good exercise for her.
That is why I keep coming back. I played last year, which was probably my first time playing since 2017.
A lot of these girls weren’t old enough to see me play in the WNBA. They hear it, and then they come back the next week and say, “I’ve seen some video of you.” It’s a great connector and a great way to stay healthy.
It’s also fun getting a chance to show that you can still put up some numbers. On Tuesday, I had 15 points and probably 10 rebounds. It’s like, “Don’t worry, the old lady can still do it!”
As someone who’s played at the highest level, what’s it like competing against current college athletes?
It’s awesome. When I play, I feel like I am talking to the girls more than I am playing the game. They ask me questions during the game, and I’m like, “Hold on, we’ve got to run back.”
In my role with my team, I play, educate and coach. Many of the girls on my team are girls that I have mentored or coached in the past.
One of the young ladies on my team right now, Suzanne Gilreath, played for me in eighth grade when I got my first coaching job. She then went to Wisconsin, where she played for years. Now, she works for the Timberwolves and the Lynx in their front office. The elevation of where girls started their careers and where they are now is amazing.
Then there’s the educational side where they go home, research you and come back the next week, and it’s like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I get a chance to talk to and touch you.”
Then they start asking questions, and it’s like, “I’d love to see you guys at the next level.” That’s why this league is so important.
What opportunities are there for female and college basketball players over the summer?
There’s not a lot. I have a lot of young women, and even my college men’s players, who are looking for places where they can have open gyms.
Some people want skills training outside of playing in the leagues; some just want to be able to come in and shoot and have a place to train. There are not a lot of really active leagues like this.
Learn More About YWCA Basketball Leagues
Thank you, Coach Tamara Moore, for sharing your story! YWCA Minneapolis offers women’s basketball leagues for female athletes of various ages.
Leagues provide opportunities to stay healthy and meet new friends. While the Summer League allows college players to play over the summer, we also offer A, B, C and Silver Fox Leagues for all skill levels. Learn more about our basketball programs.