Craig Moore
Staff Report
NEW PALESTINE — A girls basketball program with a winning tradition, New Palestine didn’t have to look far for its next head coach.
Craig Moore has been named the 15th girls basketball head coach in New Palestine High School history. It was announced Monday in a press release sent out by the school.
Moore brings 16 years of coaching experience to the position, including serving the 2022-23 season as the Dragons’ junior varsity coach as part of head coach Sarah Gizzi’s staff.
He takes over for Gizzi, who led the Dragons to a 98-51 record, two sectional championships and a conference championship in her six seasons.
Before coming to NPHS, Moore coached one season at New Palestine Junior High. He also coached junior high girls for three seasons and boys for six at Morristown from 2012-21. Prior to that, he was an assistant boys coach at Morristown High School from 2007-10, coaching alongside 278-game winner Scott McClelland. Moore also spent two seasons coaching junior high boys basketball in Rushville under coach Kerry Brown, currently the head coach at Connersville High School.
“Throughout my basketball career, I have been fortunate to play for and work alongside some of the best coaches in the state in Kerry Brown, Scott McClelland, Jerry Craig and Sarah Gizzi,” Moore said in the school’s release.
“The reason I feel confident in my ability to lead the New Palestine girls basketball program is due to their willingness to lead and mentor me throughout my years as a player and coach. I am extremely grateful for each of them. I am also grateful for the trust the New Palestine administrators have placed in me to lead the girls basketball program. Coach Gizzi set the bar high for New Palestine girls basketball and we will certainly work hard to keep raising that bar. I look forward to getting started.”
In addition to coaching, Moore is in his 13th year as a school administrator, including his ninth in Southern Hancock schools, where he currently serves as the interim principal at New Palestine Junior High. He also has been the NPJH athletic director, dean of students and assistant principal, and began the 2022-23 school year as the assistant principal at NPHS.
