Family Of Coaching: Hauser’s Moorhead is third generational coach in his family

The Moorhead family from left, mother Lisa, father Rob and sons Brad and Trent take a photo together at “The Ol’ Coach Classic” on Dec. 31, 2021 at the Tyson Activity Center, formerly known as Tyson Auditorium, in Versailles. The basketball tournament featured four JV teams that had direct connections to former Versailles and South Ripley coach William “Gus” Moorhead. The teams in the tournament with connection to Gus Moorhead were South Ripley (son Rob), Edgewood (grandson Brad), Hauser (grandson Trent), and Milan (daughter Jane Rogers).

Submitted photo

HOPE — Trent Moorhead fell in love with basketball.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Moorhead followed in his family’s footsteps. He became a third-generational player, and now a third-generation head coach when he was named the coach of the Hauser boys basketball team last year.

Moorhead remembers going to basketball games at South Dearborn when he was young. He was 2 years old when his father Rob transitioned from coaching to being a school administrator in 1998. Trent recalled staying late at school whenever his father had to work late and attend school events. It was from that moment he wanted to continue into the family tradition.

“I don’t remember my dad on the sidelines, but when I was growing up, he was still at school. My routine was always, get done with school,” Trent said. “If didn’t have a practice of my own, then I’d wait for my dad to get done working and I’d go to the gym. I would sit in the bleachers of boys varsity practice in the winter, or I’d go down and watch the football team practice in the fall. It was kind of my routine. I was always around the gym. When he’d have a game he’d have to supervise, I’d always be with him. I was constantly around the gym growing up.”

Moorhead began playing on the school’s basketball team in the fifth grade. He continued playing all the way through high school. He played for the Knights until his junior year. When his dad began his role as the superintendent of South Ripley Community School Corporation, he played his senior year for the Raiders. He graduated from South Ripley in 2014.

“I loved the lore of high school basketball,” Moorhead said. “I was always drawn to it as a kid, so then, when I finally got to playing in high school, I loved it, I loved the experience. It was always something I knew that I wanted to do. I knew when I was young in high school, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and coach because of the family history that I have in it because I loved being around it.”

Trent had the slight thought of playing college basketball at a smaller institution, but decided to attend Indiana University, where he got his first opportunity in coaching. His junior year at Indiana, he was named the seventh grade coach at Edgewood. His older brother Brad also attended Indiana, which helped in Trent’s decision of getting his feet wet at the coaching side of basketball.

Brad was a sixth-grade math teacher and a varsity assistant and JV coach at Edgewood for six years until he got out of teaching and coaching last year. He now works as a fitness coach at Orange Theory Fitness in Bloomington.

“I knew I wanted to go to IU. My brother was already at IU, and I knew I wanted to be a coach. I knew that there was an opportunity to get started early if I went there,” Trent said. “It worked out really well.”

In the 2017-18 school year, Moorhead was a varsity assistant for Edgewood. His role there mostly consisted of doing the scouting report for former Edgewood boys varsity coach J.B. Neill, who now is the coach at Bloomfield, and his staff. After Moorhead graduated from IU in 2018, he was the JV boys coach at Franklin under former head coach Brad Dickey, now at Trinity Lutheran, for three years. He also taught high school math during his time at Franklin as the JV coach. While at Franklin, he met his assistant coach Kevin Albright, who now works as an assistant under Moorhead at Hauser.

Hauser coach Trent Moorhead chats with point guard Stryker Gill during a break in the action Jan. 6, 2023 against North Decatur at Hauser High School. Tommy Walker/For The Republic

The Republic file photo

In the fall of 2021, Moorhead accepted the Hauser boys JV coaching job until being promoted to the head coaching role for the Jets last year. He teaches high school math at the school, as well.

It was early in high school when Moorhead knew he wanted to get into coaching. He said he was fortunate to have great basketball coaches to work under to help him ease into head coaching.

“The stuff they shared with me as an assistant coach and kind of learning the ropes, I was really fortunate to work for good coaches,” Moorhead said. “I love being on the sidelines and being involved. I love teaching and being around kids. I’m a relationship-driven type of guy, so I’m a people-person. I wanted to be a teacher and wanted to be a coach. Both those things go hand in hand. It couldn’t have been any better for me.”

William “Gus” Moorhead poses for a photo at Tyson Auditorium, now known as the Tyson Activity Center, in Versailles. He was the head basketball coach at Versailles High School for 15 years until consolidating into South Ripley. He was the inaugural basketball coach at South Ripley and coached for two seasons. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, the Hanover College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Ripley County Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

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The love of basketball in the Moorhead family began 80 years ago with Trent’s grandfather, William “Gus” Moorhead. Gus, nicknamed “The Ol’ Coach,” played high school basketball at Madison from 1944-47 and then for Hanover College from 1948-51. After his playing career, Gus was the head coach at Versailles High School from 1951-66 until it was consolidated into South Ripley and was the inaugural head basketball coach at South Ripley for two seasons until 1968.

During his coaching career, Gus Moorhead compiled a 253-177 record in his 17 years of coaching. One of the teams he coached against in 1954 was Ripley County rival Milan, who would go on to upset Muncie Central to win the state title that year and inspired the 1986 film “Hoosiers.” Starting in 1957, Gus began a four-year run where his teams won four consecutive sectional titles and had a 112-14 record during that stretch.

Gus moved to an administrative role, being named principal of South Ripley High School and was in that position for 23 years until his retirement in 1992. For 14 years following his retirement, he wrote weekly columns called “The Ol’ Coach Sez” and “Double Dribbles” for Ripley Publishing Company Newspapers. He passed away in 2008.

“My sisters and I all saw how highly regarded our parents were in the community and how much people thought about them. I think we saw the influence they made as educators, and we all decided to follow in their footsteps,” Rob Moorhead said. “I was always interested in basketball growing up in a basketball family. I loved it, so I knew if I was going to become a teacher, I wanted to be a basketball coach, as well. I wanted to experience what my dad experienced. Still, I have people come up to me on a daily basis who played ball for my dad or who were students when he was the principal and talk about what an influence he was on their lives. That’s stuff that really sticks with you.”

William “Gus” Moorhead, left, poses for a photo with his son Rob after Rob Moorhead won the sectional title in 1995 as the head boys basketball at South Dearborn High School. Rob Moorhead was the head coach at South Dearborn for five years until becoming associate principal of the school in 1998. He is currently in his 11th year as the superintendent of South Ripley Community School Corporation.

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Rob was a basketball player at South Ripley, with his team winning a regional title in 1981. Following high school, Rob followed his father’s footsteps and went to play basketball at Hanover College. Like Gus, Rob also got into high school coaching. He coached boys basketball at South Dearborn for 11 years, with six years as the JV coach under Jim Shannon, the current head coach at New Albany, and five years as the varsity coach and winning the sectional championship as head coach in 1995.

Gus didn’t coach his son at South Ripley officially, but Rob said it felt like his father was coaching him in his own way. Rob mentioned that he feels like he is in his father’s position in helping out his son.

“I look back on my career as a coach and all the time I spent on the phone with my dad talking about various things and him helping me and my career as a young coach,” Rob said. “Now, the role is kind of reversed. I spend a lot of time on the phone with Trent helping him and his young coaching career. It’s neat to see it now from the other perspective.”

Rob left coaching in 1998 to accept the associate principal job at the school until 2003, when he became the South Dearborn High School principal. He held that position until 2012, when he became the superintendent of South Ripley Community School Corporation, a position he’s held ever since.

Gus Moorhead left a legacy in southeastern Indiana. His children and grandchildren carry on his tradition today across many schools and the love of basketball, in general.

On Dec. 31, 2021, the Moorhead family found a way to honor the legacy of “The Ol’ Coach” by hosting a four-team JV tournament, with each school having a tie-in to Gus Moorhead. The schools were Hauser, Edgewood, South Ripley and Milan, where Gus Moorhead’s daughter Jane Rogers is the superintendent. The perfect venue for the event was at the Tyson Auditorium in Versailles, known today as the Tyson Activity Center, where it felt like a second home to the eldest Moorhead during his days of coaching in the 1950s and 1960s.

Gus was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, the Hanover College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Ripley County Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Rob, Brad and Trent Moorhead have tattoos on their upper arms as a bond they all have shared together being coaches. Rob is known as “CMII” (Coach Moorhead 2), Brad as “CMIII” (Coach Moorhead 3) and Trent as “CMIV” (Coach Moorhead 4).

Even if Rob Moorhead isn’t on the sidelines anymore, he still stays active with sports in Indiana. He spends time broadcasting high school football and basketball games for WRBI Radio, the ISC Sports Network and the IHSAA Champions Radio Network. He also serves as a mentor in the Indiana Principals Leadership Institute and is a member of the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Board of Directors.

Rob currently resides in Aurora with Lisa, his wife of 32 years. Rob makes the 80-minute drive to watch and support Trent at all of his basketball games at Hauser, and on the occasion, to some of the away games, as well.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him and the job he is doing. He is in it for the right reasons. He’s trying to create great experiences for student-athletes,” Rob Moorhead said.

Rob won’t have to travel far to see his son coach his first sectional game. The Class 2A South Ripley Sectional resumes Friday with North Decatur and South Ripley competing in the first semifinal. Hauser competes against Milan in the second semifinal game. The championship will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

It is a first glimpse for basketball fans in southeastern Indiana, old and new, to get a look at a third-generational coach.

“It’s cool when we play teams from southeastern Indiana. There’s a lot of connections to my family,” Trent Moorhead said. “People will mention the similarities I have with my dad from when he was on the sidelines to my mannerisms. There’s a lot of people who watched him coach will see me coach. I think it’s a total compliment when I hear those things. There’s never any expectations or any pressure that people put on me. People are real respectful, and a lot of people from down there in that area are proud that I’m carrying on the Moorhead tradition of coaching, which is really nice.”