Doug Moe

For the American journalist, see Doug Moe (writer).

Douglas Edwin Moe (born September 21, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball coach. He is most closely associated with the Denver Nuggets franchise.

Moe was a star player at the University of North Carolina. However, his collegiate career ended in disgrace when he admitted to being involved in a point shaving scandal.^[1] He did not enter the NBA as a player, instead playing for the American Basketball Association for the New Orleans Buccaneers, Oakland Oaks, Washington Caps, Carolina Cougars and Virginia Squires.

Moe became a head coach in 1976-77, after serving as an assistant coach for the Carolina Cougars. Moe worked behind the bench for 15 years, ten of them with the Denver Nuggets. He also had stops in San Antonio and Philadelphia.

In Denver

Moe arrived in Denver in 1980, taking over for Donnie Walsh. His Denver teams were immediately characterized by a run-and-gun style that emphasized offense rather than defense. He was often criticized for his style, but the fans loved it. While he never won an NBA title, his overall coaching record was a successful 628-529, and he won the 1987-88 NBA Coach of the Year Award.

He held pieces to Denver's offensive explosion of the decade, such as Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, and Fat Lever.

He also spent some time as an assistant coach with the Nuggets.

While he is considered the most successful coach in Nuggets history, many consider his stint with the Sixers as disastrous. He did not last through his first season and was replaced by assistant Fred Carter.

On coming to the NBA after the NBA-ABA merger

"One of the biggest disappointments in my life was going into the NBA after the merger. The NBA was a rinky-dink league - listen, I'm very serious about this. The league was run like garbage. There was no camaraderie; a lot of the NBA guys were aloof and thought they were too good to practice or play hard. The NBA All-Star Games were nothing - guys didn't even want to play in them and the fans could [sic] care less about the games. It wasn't until the 1980s, when David Stern became commissioner, that the NBA figured out what the hell they were doing, and what they did was a lot of stuff we had in the ABA - from the 3-point shot to All-Star weekend to the show biz stuff. Now the NBA is like the old ABA. Guys play hard, they show their enthusiasm and there is a closeness in the league. Hell, the ABA might have lost the battle, but we won the war. The NBA now plays our kind of basketball."^[2]

Coaching record

NBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L%	Win-loss %
Post season	PG	Games coached	PW	Games won	PL	Games lost	PW–L%	Win-loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
SAS	1976–77	64	44	38	.537	3rd in Central	2	0	2	.000	Lost in First Round
SAS	1977–78	82	52	30	.634	1st in Central	6	2	4	.333	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
SAS	1978–79	82	48	34	.585	1st in Central	14	7	7	.500	Lost in Conf. Finals
SAS	1979–80	66	33	33	.500	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
DEN	1980–81	51	26	25	.510	4th in Midwest	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
DEN	1981–82	82	46	36	.561	2nd in Midwest	3	1	2	.333	Lost in First Round
DEN	1982–83	82	45	37	.549	2nd in Midwest	8	3	5	.375	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
DEN	1983–84	82	38	44	.463	3rd in Midwest	5	2	3	.400	Lost in First Round
DEN	1984–85	82	52	30	.634	1st in Midwest	15	8	7	.533	Lost in Conf. Finals
DEN	1985–86	82	47	35	.573	2nd in Midwest	10	5	5	.500	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
DEN	1986–87	82	37	45	.451	4th in Midwest	3	0	3	.000	Lost in First Round
DEN	1987–88	82	54	28	.659	1st in Midwest	11	5	6	.455	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
DEN	1988–89	82	44	38	.537	3rd in Midwest	3	0	3	.000	Lost in First Round
DEN	1989–90	82	43	39	.524	4th in Midwest	3	0	3	.000	Lost in First Round
PHI	1992–93	56	19	37	.339	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
Career		1157	628	529	.543		83	33	50	.398

References

1. ^ Callahan, Tom (1989-06-26). "Essay: Did Pete Rose Do It? What Are the Odds? spread". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958008,00.html. 
2. ^ Pluto, Terry, Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association (Simon & Schuster, 1990), ISBN 978-1-4165-4061-8, p.34

External links

• Basketball-Reference.com: Doug Moe (as coach)
• Basketball-Reference.com: Doug Moe (as player)
• Olsen, Jack. "Pallacanestro Is The Rage," Sports Illustrated, February 13, 1967.
• Newman, Bruce. "This Joker Is Wild," Sports Illustrated, November 7, 1988.

Persondata
Name	Moe, Doug
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Short description
Date of birth	September 21, 1938
Place of birth
Date of death
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