BV's Moore calling an audible to Princeton

Dave Moore will taking a timeout from Bureau Valley to take over as the new head coach at Princeton. He succeeds Dave Smith, who accepted the coaching job at Mount Zion. (BCR file photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

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PRINCETON — Dave Moore walked up to the side door of Princeton High School Friday morning and found the doors locked. He went around to the front door and buzzed in. He will soon have all the keys to the building.

The Bureau Valley Storm head football coach will be making the cross county trip from Manlius to Princeton to take over as the new football coach of the Princeton Tigers. He said Monday evening he had accepted the job earlier in the day.

PHS Principal Barb Schmidt confirmed Moore’s hiring Wednesday, She said he will be taken to the board for approval on the next scheduled meeting on June 25.

Moore, who also takes on former coach Dave Smith’s athletic director duties, had expressed an interest in the PHS job in years past. He said the timing was right for his family and him.

“You’re going to miss the people you coached with. It’s kind of a new challenge, and I look forward to that,” he said. “I know there will be people (from the Bureau Valley community) say, ‘How can you move to Princeton?’ It’s going to be a little rough. I know these are good kids (at Bureau Valley), and I know Princeton’s got good kids. It’s the time in my life I’ve got to do the best things for me and my family.”

Moore has been on the Storm staff since the school was formed in 1995, serving as head coach since 2005. His first team went undefeated, winning the 3A state championship in 2005 on the heels of a runner-up finish in ’04.

Moore’s Storm ran their winning streak to 26 straight in 2006, losing for the first time in 3A semifinals to eventual state champ Plano. Bureau Valley went 4-5 a year ago and did not make the playoffs.

Moore said his family will move to Princeton from Walnut at some time in the future. His family includes two up and coming football players — stepsons, Logan Barnas, a freshman, and Tyler Barnas, a seventh grader — another on the way, son Peyton, 8, and his wife, Judy. His stepson, Garrett Barnas, was the quarterback of Moore’s state champion Storm squad at Bureau Valley.

The new Tiger coach’s first mission will be to recruit. He would like to have 80-100 kids out with at least 20 per class.

“I want kids who haven’t been out to try out,” he said. “I don’t want to say each kid who played last year will (get to) play again. It’s what’s best for Princeton High School.”

He said he will also have to reinstall some confidence in a program that has not had a winning season in five years.

“They’ve lost some games. The confidence isn’t there. The main thing, you’ve got to start from the beginning and work up. I’ve lost some games. Once you get the confidence in yourself, I think kids can perform. The system we got is a winner. It’s a matter if the kids buy into it and go 100 percent, if they do that, I know it will take care of itself.”

Moore, who has coached track at Bureau Valley, believes the success of a football program can be linked to the success of the track and wrestling programs.

And he does plan on winning.

“I want to win every game, win conference and try to make playoffs. That’s my three goals every year,” he said.

It will be a little nerve-wrecking, he said, having to teach everybody his new system, but it’s a job that’s got to be done.

Moore played for former PHS superintendent Andy Bertram at Dunlap High SchooI from 1978-90. Moore, who went on to play at Eureka College, played “Mike” linebacker and called the defensive plays for Bertram, whom he calls his mentor.

There was another mentor, by the name of Ken Bourquin, the first coach of Storm football, who no doubt shaped Moore’s coaching philosophy. After one year at Sandwich, Moore joined Bourquin’s staff at Manlius High School in 1987. They remained together until Bourquin’s retirement in 1997.

Their bond formed much tighter when Moore married Bourquin’s daughter, Judy, nine years ago.

“She’s very special to me and got great kids to go with her,” Moore said.

Moore thought he was always aggressive on defense — then he coached for Bourquin.

“He put the aggressive in the word,” he said. “When we played defense, we came at people. You knew you were going to be hit by us, I think that’s been my mentality ever since. We’re going to light your candle. That’s the kind of football I like and grown accustomed to.”

The new Tiger coach said he will do whatever it takes to win on offense, too.

“I am wide open as far as offense goes,” he said. “If we got to throw the ball down the field, so be it, if we can run the football, then we’re going to run the ball.”

If the game plan is not working, Moore said, “then I’ll do something about it.”

Moore said he plans to have his stepson, Garrett Barnas, now an All-American at Harper College, help out the Tigers passing game this summer to prepare them for 7-on-7 tournaments. He’s not sure how many of the 25 allowed contact days he will use with his new team this summer.

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