Following the departure of Patrick Crarey II to Florida A&M earlier today, St. Thomas University has acted quickly, and promoted Zach Moss to head basketball coach. There has not been an official statement issued yet, but STU posted the following on X a few minutes ago:
Moss joined the St. Thomas University prior to last season. Here is his bio from the STU website:
Prior to arriving at St. Thomas, Coach Moss spent seven seasons as the Associate Head Men’s Basketball coach for Ave Maria University, from 2013-2020. Coach Moss was instrumental in helping build Ave Maria into a nationally respected program and helping them win their first-ever conference tournament and first national tournament appearance in 2019. Coach Moss was in charge of all scouting and game planning at AMU, leading them to multiple top-ten finishes in a wide range of areas. AMU finished seasons ranked; #1 in Total Rebounding, #2 in Scoring Defense, #7 in Field Goal Percentage in 2014-2015, and #1 in 3-point percentage defense in 2018-2019.
Moss’ influence also produced offense success for AMU, as AMU finished in the top ten in 3 point makes during his final two seasons.
Coach Moss was in charge of recruiting and player development at Ave Maria. Moss’s tireless work ethic built strong relationships not just throughout the state of Florida but nationally and internationally. Moss signed and developed the majority of the all-conference players that have played at Ave Maria. Recent AMU All-Conference players who Moss recruited and developed; Deonte Dixon from the state of Washington, Fernando Salsamendi from Brazil, Gianpaolo Riccio from Italy (currently playing professionally in Italy), Romello Bates from Orlando, and Marcus Montalvo from Miami all were impactful in turning AMU into a nationally ranked program. None, however, was as impactful as Ave Maria’s only two-time All-American Leo Behrend from Idaho, who led Ave Maria to its first back-to-back 20 win seasons. Behrend will be competing in his second professional season in Germany for the 2021-2022 season and is the fourth player in the last three years that signed a professional contract under Moss’ development.
Coach Moss’ strong background in recruiting not only applies to basketball, during the 2020-2021 season, Moss worked as a Recruiting Coordinator for NCSA (Next College Student-Athlete). Helping high school student-athletes throughout the country and abroad get identified by college coaches.
Prior to Ave Maria, Moss spent nine seasons coaching high school basketball in Naples, Florida.
Moss helped three different programs reach the state tournament, including helping two other programs to their first-ever regional final. He also guided numerous student-athletes through the recruiting process, not only in basketball but also in various spots.
Coach Moss has a degree in Elementary Education from Florida Southwestern and a Master’s in Coaching from Greenville University. He is married to Danielle Moss and blessed with three children; Kian (their angel in Heaven), Kaia, and Koen.
