Posted: Jun 24, 2015
Moir has been on the board of the NABC since 2003 and was president from the 2014 final four until Duke's championship win. The board consists of 21 member coaches from all levels of college basketball, including some big time college coaches like John Calipari of Kentucky, Bill Self of Kansas, Bo Ryan of Wisconsin, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and many other very recognizable names.
Page moved up the ladder during his time on the board, and after serving as First Vice President under Phil Martelli of St. Joseph's during the 2013-14 season he took over the reigns in April of '14.
Moir is one of just three Division III coaches currently on the board, along with Charlie Brock of Springfield College and Gary Stewart of Stevenson University. A "basketball lifer," Page grew up in a basketball family as his father, Charlie Moir, coached at Roanoke College, Tulane and Virginia Tech and his uncle, Sam Moir was also a collegiate coach. Page is the all-time wins leader at both Roanoke College and in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and his outgoing personality has made him a popular figure on the national level as well.
"It's been a lot of fun," said Moir, who will remain on the board as a "Past President" for two more years. "I've gotten to know a lot of good people, both coaches and people in the NCAA."
Moir has been in charge of three meetings and monthly conference calls for the past year, as well as meetings in the final four. He claims to do better in the timeout huddles than he does with a gavel in his hand.
"There's probably nobody worse as far as Roberts' Rules of Order," he said with a chuckle. "People had to remind me for seconds on motions and stuff like that."
During the Friday luncheon over Final Four Weekend Page presented trophies to every coach who won his conference, then posed for a picture.
"The reward for (Villanova Coach) Jay Wright for winning his conference was having his picture taken with me," said Moir. "I told them they should wait four years and then they get to have a picture with Bill Self."
The group does a lot more than just hand out hardware and smile for pictures. Their motto is "Guardians of the Game" and they're constantly discussing what can be done to improve college basketball. The college game has been criticized lately for being "too slow" and "too boring" and Page sees some merit in those criticisms.
"We have a lot of good college officials, but the officiating is broken," he said. "The game has become way too physical. It started with Bobby Knight, who taught his players to play more physical within the rules, and it's become more and more physical over the years.
"The game is no longer 'offense friendly.' Guys reach and hold and the rules aren't enforced as written. My old friend Bob Johnson (former coach at Emory & Henry, now deceased) used to tell me, 'we'll foul you 60 times and the officials will only have the stomach to call 30.' After awhile they get tired of calling fouls, and they only have one person to answer to, the commissioner of the league they're serving.
Page feels the NBA game is a lot more fun to watch these days.
"The NBA has cleaned up their game," he said. "It's much more 'fan friendly'."
The NABC works hand in hand with the NCAA and makes suggestions as to what direction their game is heading. Jim Haney is the NABC Executive Director and Moir has been impressed with the job he's done.
"We've never been closer in our dealings with the NCAA," said Moir. "Jim has done a great job. It's ironic, because he was the assistant commissioner for the old Metro Conference when my dad was coach at Tech."
The board members are also entrusted with casting a positive light on the game and serving the student athletes.
"Every time a coach messes up you read about it the next day in a big headline." Said Moir. "But they do a lot of good things that don't get as much attention, and we strive to make sure the public is aware of those things as well."
Moir is a great asset to the valley. He has an annual tournament to raise money to fight cancer, he's collected costs for the needy at Christmas time, and he has a great record of graduating players at Roanoke College. Of course there aren't any "One-and-Dones" in Division III, and Page has been a strong voice in representing that side of NCAA basketball.
"A lot of Division I coaches have experience on other levels," he said. "Tom Izzo played Division II basketball at Northern Michigan and you'll remember Bo Ryan coached in the Division III championships here in Salem.
"One thing I've been proud of is how our members have been the 'conscience of the game.' They'll do what's right for the game when it may not be the best thing for their particular situation."
Moir's successor as president of the NABC is Ron Hunter, the coach at Georgia State. You'll remember Ron as the guy who fell off his stool when his son, R.J., hit a last second shot to upset Baylor in the NCAA Tournament.
After two years as Past President Page will rotate off the committee, and he's not looking forward to that day. He's had a lot of fun and met a lot of nice people in his dozen years serving the game he loves.
"I'll miss it dearly, he said. "I've gotten to know a lot of people in the NCAA and I've been able to help some others, like (Salem and RC grad) A.J. Dowell. I was able to hook up A.J. with an NCAA internship through my connections and now he's the assistant AD at Creighton. It's very satisfying to be able to help outstanding young people like that."
Moir also had some nice words for Carey Harveycutter who was the Director of the Salem Civic Center for 32 years and was instrumental in bringing the NCAA Division III championships to Salem.
"I met a lot of NCAA people who came to the Final Four in Salem," he said. "That's really how I got involved in this and that wouldn't have happened in the championships weren't here."
Now Salem not only hosts the NCAA Division III Final Four, but also the Reese's Division III All-Star game. Moir and Salem have proven that little fish can often make a big splash in the big pond that is NCAA basketball.
