William H. Moos (born circa 1951) is an American former college athletics administrator and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player. He served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

from 1990 to 1995, the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

from 1995 to 2007,

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

from 2010 to 2018, and the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

from 2017 to 2021. Moos played college football at Washington State from 1969 to 1972.

Early life

Moos was born and raised on a wheat and cattle ranch in rural

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, then moved to

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

at age fourteen when his father was named director of agriculture for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Daniel J. Evans. Moos graduated from Olympia High School and played college football at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

under head coach Jim Sweeney. In his senior season in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, Moos was one of two offensive tackles named to the All-Pac-8 team, and he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1973.

Administrative career

Oregon

Moos served as assistant athletics director at his alma mater from 1982 to 1990, before leaving to become the Director of Athletics at the

. He held that position until 1995, when he was hired as Director of Athletics at the

, a position he held until 2007. At Oregon, Moos raised the athletics budget from $18.5 million to $40 million, which included a 2002 renovation of

Autzen Stadium Autzen Stadium is an outdoor American football, football stadium in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, in Eugene, Oregon. Located north of the University of Oregon campus, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks football, Oregon Du ...

, and the construction of the Ed Moshofsky Sports Center. During Moos' tenure, Oregon won 13

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

championships and added soccer and lacrosse and university-sponsored programs. Moos left Oregon in 2007 after a dispute with

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

founder and university donor

Phil Knight Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of October 3, 2022, Knight was ranke ...

. Terms of Moos' departure included an agreement that paid him $200,000 annually for not taking an administrative position at a Power Five school west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. During his hiatus between 2007 and 2010, Moos took to raising beef cattle at his ranch at Valleyford, Washington, southeast of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. The exact reasons for his resignation from Oregon are unknown, but the dispute with Knight regarding funding for an arena to replace the aging

McArthur Court McArthur Court is a basketball arena located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene and the former home of the Oregon Ducks men's and women's basketball teams, replaced in 2011 by Matthew Knight Arena. Also known as "The Pit" or "M ...

"strained a bit toward the end." After Moos resigned, Knight donated $100 million towards the building of a new arena for Oregon.

Washington State

Moos returned to Washington State as athletic director in 2010. During his tenure, he signed a ten-year marketing agreement with

, and, as dean of

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

athletic directors, oversaw the conference's 12-year, $3 billion television agreement with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Nebraska

Moos was hired as Nebraska's Director of Athletics on October 15, 2017, at a base salary of $1 million, making him the second-highest paid athletic director in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, behind only Wisconsin's

Barry Alvarez Barry Lee Alvarez (born December 30, 1946) is a former American football coach and athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons, from 1990 to 2005, compiling a caree ...

. After firing Mike Riley at the end of the 2017 season, Moos hired former Nebraska quarterback

Scott Frost Scott Andrew Frost (born January 4, 1975) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2018 to 2022. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football as a qu ...

from UCF to serve as head football coach. Just months after his hiring, Nebraska's volleyball program won the NCAA Tournament, giving Moos his first national championship as an administrator. In March 2019, Moos fired men's basketball head coach

Tim Miles Timothy Sean Miles (born August 20, 1966) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the San Jose State Spartans men's basketball team. Miles previously served as the head coach of North Dakota State University, Colo ...

, and replaced him with former

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

head coach

Fred Hoiberg Fredrick Kristian Hoiberg (born October 15, 1972) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He has served as the men's head basketball coach at the University of Nebraska since 2019. Hoiberg grew up in Ames, Iowa, and played coll ...

, a Lincoln native. On June 25, 2021, it was announced that Moos would retire as the athletic director at Nebraska effective June 30.

Personal life

Moos and his wife Kendra have five children: daughters Christa, Brittany, and Kaiti, and sons Bo and Benjamin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moos, Bill 1950s births Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people American football offensive tackles Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz athletic directors Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic directors Oregon Ducks athletic directors Washington State Cougars athletic directors Washington State Cougars football players People from Lincoln County, Washington Sportspeople from Olympia, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state)