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Tom Moore has seen the evolution of the UConn men’s basketball program from a seat no one else has had.
He started on Jim Calhoun’s staff in 1994, as the program was just beginning to become a regular in the NCAA Tournament. He helped build the Huskies into national champions in 1999 and 2004 before his own decade-long run as head coach at Quinnipiac. He then returned with Dan Hurley to help restore the foundation he played a major part in establishing.
Adding two more championships in 2023 and ’24, Moore was tasked again with ushering the Huskies into a new era and laying the groundwork for what the job description of a general manager at UConn should look like. As GM, he played a significant role in assembling the 2025-26 roster that made it back to the national championship game for a third time in four years. He’s also had a big impact on the current 2026-27 group, which should contend again.
But, make no mistake about it: Moore is a basketball coach. And as he officially retires on Sept. 1, Hurley and the Huskies will be looking for a “true” GM to take the reigns.
“Tom, with me at Rhody and just helping me kind of go and transition into this job here and just all of the great advice, just a veteran coach, (he) helped us so much in identifying players and in building the program. We’ll miss Tom. The players are gonna miss him, the coaches are gonna miss him, everyone’s gonna miss T-Moore,” Hurley said.
“For us, (we’ll be looking for) more of a true general manager in the sense of, we don’t do a lot of recruiting from October through the end of our season, we pretty much don’t do any recruiting. I don’t even think I went and saw Junior (County) or Colben (Landrew) play. We’re the type of program that just, we coach our players, we coach our team, we’re not off on planes looking for the next player, we coach the people here,” Hurley said.
“So I think we’re looking probably for someone that is gonna identify that next class for us a little bit earlier. We’ll be able to get out internationally and then obviously prepare us with different scenarios once the portal opens for the way that we like to use the portal.”
Speaking of recruiting, a highly ranked UConn target in the 2027 class was in Connecticut this week for the Ta’Quan Zimmerman Elite 20 Invitational, hosted by Shelton High on Tuesday night.
Malachi Jordan, the No. 4 small forward in the class, according to 247Sports, who plays at Prolific Prep in Florida, had some special guests at the game. Though it is a dead period for recruiting and coaches could not attend, UConn’s presence was felt with current players Silas Demary Jr., Jayden Ross, Solo Ball, Colben Landrew and Jaye Nash sitting courtside.
Jordan, versatile at 6 feet 7, 225 pounds, listed UConn among his top eight schools along with Alabama, Kansas, Ohio State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, USC and Washington. He has reportedly scheduled a visit to Storrs for early October.
UConn has also reportedly been in the mix for a number of other top prospects, including Demarcus Henry (No. 4 by 247Sports), Cayden Daughtry (No. 3), Asa Montgomery (No. 42), King Gibson (No. 12) and Chase Lumpkin (No. 30), among others.
The college awards may never stop coming for former UConn captain Alex Karaban, who picked up his latest on Wednesday, more than seven weeks after he was drafted 29th overall by the Sacramento Kings – and no, he will not be returning to UConn.
Karaban wrapped up his career as the winningest player in program history and was named the Big East’s 2025-26 Sport Excellence Award winner for men’s basketball. He was one of three Huskies recognized by the league as Sol Simone took home the award for field hockey and Anna Connors for women’s indoor track and field.
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He started on Jim Calhoun’s staff in 1994, as the program was just beginning to become a regular in the NCAA Tournament. He helped build the Huskies into national champions in 1999 and 2004 before his own decade-long run as head coach at Quinnipiac. He then returned with Dan Hurley to help restore the foundation he played a major part in establishing.
Adding two more championships in 2023 and ’24, Moore was tasked again with ushering the Huskies into a new era and laying the groundwork for what the job description of a general manager at UConn should look like. As GM, he played a significant role in assembling the 2025-26 roster that made it back to the national championship game for a third time in four years. He’s also had a big impact on the current 2026-27 group, which should contend again.
But, make no mistake about it: Moore is a basketball coach. And as he officially retires on Sept. 1, Hurley and the Huskies will be looking for a “true” GM to take the reigns.
“Tom, with me at Rhody and just helping me kind of go and transition into this job here and just all of the great advice, just a veteran coach, (he) helped us so much in identifying players and in building the program. We’ll miss Tom. The players are gonna miss him, the coaches are gonna miss him, everyone’s gonna miss T-Moore,” Hurley said.
“For us, (we’ll be looking for) more of a true general manager in the sense of, we don’t do a lot of recruiting from October through the end of our season, we pretty much don’t do any recruiting. I don’t even think I went and saw Junior (County) or Colben (Landrew) play. We’re the type of program that just, we coach our players, we coach our team, we’re not off on planes looking for the next player, we coach the people here,” Hurley said.
“So I think we’re looking probably for someone that is gonna identify that next class for us a little bit earlier. We’ll be able to get out internationally and then obviously prepare us with different scenarios once the portal opens for the way that we like to use the portal.”
Top prospects visit
Speaking of recruiting, a highly ranked UConn target in the 2027 class was in Connecticut this week for the Ta’Quan Zimmerman Elite 20 Invitational, hosted by Shelton High on Tuesday night.
Malachi Jordan, the No. 4 small forward in the class, according to 247Sports, who plays at Prolific Prep in Florida, had some special guests at the game. Though it is a dead period for recruiting and coaches could not attend, UConn’s presence was felt with current players Silas Demary Jr., Jayden Ross, Solo Ball, Colben Landrew and Jaye Nash sitting courtside.
Jordan, versatile at 6 feet 7, 225 pounds, listed UConn among his top eight schools along with Alabama, Kansas, Ohio State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, USC and Washington. He has reportedly scheduled a visit to Storrs for early October.
UConn has also reportedly been in the mix for a number of other top prospects, including Demarcus Henry (No. 4 by 247Sports), Cayden Daughtry (No. 3), Asa Montgomery (No. 42), King Gibson (No. 12) and Chase Lumpkin (No. 30), among others.
More recognition for Karaban
The college awards may never stop coming for former UConn captain Alex Karaban, who picked up his latest on Wednesday, more than seven weeks after he was drafted 29th overall by the Sacramento Kings – and no, he will not be returning to UConn.
Karaban wrapped up his career as the winningest player in program history and was named the Big East’s 2025-26 Sport Excellence Award winner for men’s basketball. He was one of three Huskies recognized by the league as Sol Simone took home the award for field hockey and Anna Connors for women’s indoor track and field.
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