Porter Moser handed out a voluminous scouting report of Tennessee for every Loyola player to study before Saturday’s second-round NCAA tournament game.
But the most important words to live by for the Ramblers remain the ones written on Page 1 of Moser’s all-time favorite business book, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t.’’
“The opening line is, ‘Good is the evil of great,’ ’’ Moser said Friday after practice. “We’ve been talking about that all year. Yeah, we’re good but we don’t want to be satisfied. Complacency is the byproduct of success.’’
The coach who speaks in bumper-sticker slogans spent the day after Loyola’s 64-62 victory over Miami on Donte Ingram’s 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds left trying to convince America the Ramblers not only want more out of March but they expect it. The more Moser talked, the easier it became to believe Loyola can beat an athletically superior Tennessee team that, on paper, it has no business beating.
“We have addressed that all year long, to stay hungry, to stay chasing,’’ Moser said. “These guys have done that and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of who they are. I’m proud that we’ve done it the right way. But I really don’t think we’re done.’’
Whatever happens after tipoff at 5:10 p.m. Saturday at the American Airlines Center, this looks like just the beginning for Loyola — if Moser resists the temptation to leave for a more lucrative job offer that inevitably will come.
If charming 98-year-old team chaplain Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt is the darling of this tournament, the charismatic Moser has emerged as Loyola’s breakout star by representing the university with class and coaching his team with smarts.
“I wanted to build a program, not a team — a program is sustainable,’’ said Moser, 118-110 in seven years at Loyola. “I’m optimistic we can sustain this.’’
Its sustainability depends on whether the Missouri Valley Conference member can keep Moser, 49, who possesses the qualities every Power 5 athletic director looking for a head coach seeks. Programs with vacancies such as Pittsburgh and Connecticut can offer Moser significantly more than the $420,000 he made last year on a contract that runs through 2021-22. But anybody paying close attention to Moser lately knows more than money drives the down-to-earth coach comfortable in the high-character culture he created.
A Naperville native who grew up in a family committed to community involvement, Moser simply loves the Chicago area. He lives in Wilmette with his wife, Megan, and four children: Jordan, Jake, Max and Ben. The only team Moser roots for any harder than Loyola might be the Cubs. A chance for Moser to enhance his quality of life by giving a local program a national presence — a la Butler or Gonzaga or Wichita State — must be appealing to guy who graduated from Benet Academy.
Moser’s Chicago ties give Loyola President Jo Ann Rooney an opportunity that might not exist with another successful coach. Rooney sounded open to opening up the university coffers for Moser during an interview with the Tribune before Selection Sunday.
“Porter talked about building a program, and part of that is making sure we’re paying folks competitively without sitting back,’’ Rooney said.
The publicity Loyola’s NCAA appearance has generated alone could justify increasing Moser’s salary to $1 million. To his credit, Moser scoffed at any speculation about the future Friday unless it included how to guard Tennessee or what he texted Loyola’s three recruits from this season’s highly regarded class.
He preferred to elaborate on his favorite topic, the 15 clean-cut, well-mannered college basketball ambassadors in the locker room who extended this commercial for Loyola basketball into Saint Patrick’s Day.
There was guard Clayton Custer on the podium, talking about how Loyola’s 1963 team “transcended the game’’ by breaking racial barriers. There was Ingram, the life of every party, making people laugh by recounting how many times he and roommate Marques Townes watched his epic shot. There were Loyola players articulating their thoughts and enhancing the university’s brand on every platform, from Snapchat to CBS.
“You achieve what you emphasize,’’ Moser said. “I told my staff, this is the kind of student-athlete we want to recruit here. You don’t bend on that.’’
More Top Picks Best Gym Storage Systems For Home Gyms
That has been Moser’s approach to recruiting since Arkansas-Little Rock made him the second-youngest head coach in the country at 31 in 2000. In his interview for that job, a brash Moser reportedly told the school’s chancellor it would be hard for him to pick anyone else — and he was right.
Perspective came from Moser getting fired twice, once as an assistant on Tony Barone’s Texas A&M staff and the painful exit as Illinois State head coach in 2007 with three years on his contract. With that professional setback came personal growth; Moser landed at St. Louis on the late Rick Majerus’ staff and that changed his life. More than a decade later, Moser considers Majerus and Barone his coaching mentors and himself the luckiest coach alive.
“I’m blessed,’’ Moser said. “I have a mature, focused, locked-in team. We believe we’re good and we believe we came here to compete and win. Nothing has changed.’’
Somebody asked Moser if he believes in destiny.
“Sure, why not?’’ he said. “Why not believe in it?’’
With this Loyola team, it’s a fair question.
Twitter @DavidHaugh