TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Teri Moren has resigned from her position as head women's basketball coach to accept the same post at Indiana University, effective immediately. A search is underway for her replacement.
The announcement comes as the Sycamores are en route to Costa Rica for their previously scheduled foreign tour. Associate head coach Joey Wells will oversee the program during the tour as well as during the transition upon the team's return.
“Coach Teri Moren has been a tremendous leader in our Sycamore Women's Basketball program," Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman said. "She will be missed greatly. We are all very happy for her and proud of her as she moves across the state to continue her outstanding coaching career. A search will begin immediately to identify the next head coach for the program. With our historical and recent success, I have every reason to believe that this opening will generate a lot of interest and excitement in the Women's Basketball community.”
Moren departs Indiana State following a four-year run at the helm of the women's basketball program. She guided the Sycamores to a Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship, the first 20-win season in eight years and back-to-back WNIT appearances in 2013-14. For her career, Moren holds a 199-130 record over 10 seasons and a 69-57 record at ISU.
“This is a bittersweet moment. I'm excited about the opportunity that lies ahead for me,” Teri Moren said. “This is what people in our profession work our entire careers for is an opportunity like this to become the next head coach at Indiana University. It's sad in the respect that I am leaving behind a group of really great basketball players who are also really good people. Our support staff at Indiana State as well as Ron Prettyman, (President) Dan Bradley, his wife Cheri and Angie Lansing has all been really good to me in my time at Indiana State. I'm really excited for this new opportunity but also sad at the same time to be leaving behind the great people at Indiana State.”
Her success with the Sycamores continued into her fourth season, where she guided the team to a 20-12 overall record and 14-4 mark in the MVC. They earned the overall No. 1 seed in the MVC Tournament and advanced for to the MVC semifinals for the second time under her direction. The 2013-14 record marked just the fifth 20-win season for ISU in program history and third MVC regular season championship.
ISU won seven-straight games to close the season from Feb. 21-Mar. 16, including the program's first win at Wichita State since 2009, a 37-point victory at Missouri State and wrapping up a regular season title on the road at UNI.
She helped senior point guard Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir to MVC Newcomer of the Year in 2014, along MVC All-Conference First Team and MVC Scholar-Athlete second team honors. Senior guard Anna Munn capped off her career under Moren as the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, a three-time MVC Scholar-Athlete selection and two-time All-MVC pick. In all, Moren has coached six all-MVC players in her four seasons at Indiana State.
Indiana State finished the 2012-13 season at 18-13 overall and 10-8 in the MVC, the most total wins for the team since 2006-07 and the most victories in conference play since 2008-09. The Sycamores finished in fourth place the MVC and earned the first WNIT postseason bid since 2006.
Defense was the key to Indiana State's strong 2012-13 season as ISU set the program record for fewest points allowed per game, as opponents averaged just 55.5 points per contest. The Sycamores also held 10 opponents to less than 50 points in a game. In addition, ISU went on a six-game win streak from Nov. 25-Dec. 18.
Moren led Indiana State to a fifth place finish in the conference in 2011-12 and their first time outside of Thursday night at the conference tournament since 2008-09. ISU finished 15-16 in 2011-12, tying for fifth place in the league with an even 9-9 record.
In Moren's first season, the Sycamores finished the year at 16-16 overall, including a trip to the State Farm MVC Tournament semifinals. ISU entered the 2011 conference tournament as the seventh seed after finishing the conference season with an 8-10 record, but picked up a pair of wins in the tournament over No. 10 seed Southern Illinois and No. 2 seed Illinois State before falling in a hard-fought game with No. 3 seed Missouri State in the semifinals. Indiana State also set program records in Moren's first season for wins under a first-year head coach (16), for assists in the game (31 vs. USC Upstate on Dec. 12) and for free-throw attempts in a game (52 vs. Southern Illinois on Feb. 25).
Moren has coached two players to continue their playing careers professionally overseas. Guard Brittany Schoen (2008-12) went on to play for KFI basketball team located in Iceland. Schoen starred at Indiana State, finishing second in Missouri Valley Conference history in three-pointers made (276), while breaking the record for attempts (823). Deja Mattox also played after college overseas in the Luxembourg's Diekirich League with the club Amicale. Mattox set the school record for three pointers in a game with seven treys against Missouri State on Jan. 27, 2012. She finished that game with a career high 31 points.
Moren, a Seymour, Ind., native, came to ISU in 2010 after serving for three seasons as the associate head coach at Georgia Tech, where the Yellow Jackets had made three NCAA Tournament appearances and enjoyed three consecutive 20-win seasons.
Previously, Moren served as the head coach at the University of Indianapolis for seven seasons, where she compiled a 130-73 record. The 2003 WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, her teams made appearances in three consecutive NCAA Division II Tournaments and earned the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles in 2002-03. Moren was also an assistant coach at Northwestern in 1999-2000 and has additional assistant coaching experience for six years at Butler.
Moren was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame on April 26, 2014. Moren still holds high school records at Seymour High School in Seymour, Ind., just two hours south of Terre Haute. She previously earned a spot in the Hall of Fame in April 2012 as part of the Silver Anniversary Team.
A 1992 graduate of Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in therapeutic recreation, Moren lettered four years in basketball and was a two-year starter for the Boilermakers. She helped guide her team to a 1991 Big Ten Championship, and was a member of the program's first NCAA tournament team. Purdue. She still remains among the program's career leaders in assists (275) and steals (116).
There will be much more to come on this developing story as details are made available and once the team arrives in Costa Rica later this evening.
