Former Pride VB standout joins Bentley as assistant
'01 grad Moore's 3rd college coaching gig
By Ryan Casey
Karrin Moore was all set to return for her second season as
assistant volleyball coach at Wheaton College.
But as she was helping to coach a summer camp in July at Bentley
College 40 miles away in Waltham, Mass., she caught the eye of
Falcons head coach Sandy Hoffman.
Hoffman wanted to interview Moore, a former standout at Mountain
Pointe who went on to play at Northeastern, for her vacant
assistant position. Three weeks later, Moore found herself with a
new job.
“It was very unexpected and a nice, big leap for me,”
Moore said earlier this week.
Along with the move came new responsibilities: the 2001 Mountain
Pointe grad now screens potential recruits and scouts upcoming
opponents.
Moore has been helping to coach teams ever since her high school
days – a way “to learn more about the game (and) learn
from different people,” she said – but she officially
got her start as an assistant with the Northeastern men’s
club team, a team that placed second at nationals in 2005.
Then, while playing at an outdoor doubles tournament, a friend told
her about a vacant position at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.,
about 45 minutes south of Boston.
“I knew (Wheaton’s coach) Ben Read a little bit, and I
was just like, 'Hey, if you need an assistant, I’m
free,’” Moore said. “So I kind of lucked
out.”
Wheaton, a Division III school, went 4-28 last season before
Division II Bentley came knocking over the summer.
“I was prepared to go back (to Wheaton), but I got the better
job offer,” Moore said.
It’ll save her time on a commute. Bentley’s just 20
minutes east of Boston.
Moore joins the staff of the fifth-winningest active Division II
coach in Hoffman, who has accumulated 638 wins over 25 years at the
school and has won 10 regular season or playoff conference
championships.
“She knows what she’s talking about,” Moore said.
“That made the decision all the much easier.
“She just obviously has a lot to teach someone.”
Hoffman has turned out a number of head coaches, including
Harvard’s Jen Weiss, who played at Bentley in the late '80s,
and Dartmouth’s Ann Marie Larese, a former assistant.
But Moore isn’t so sure a head coaching gig is in her
future.
“I could see myself doing that, but then I could see myself
doing a lot of different things,” she said. “I
haven’t really decided what I want to do when I grow up, but
I know that volleyball will be part of it in some form or
another.”