Tim Moser is the new men's basketball coach at UT Tyler.

UT Tyler didn’t have to look far to find its new head men’s basketball coach.

Tim Moser, who has spent the past two seasons as the associate head coach for the UT Tyler women’s basketball program, was tabbed as the fifth men’s basketball coach for the Patriots.

“What an opportunity,” Moser said. “I’m excited about the challenge. Opportunities open that you don’t know why. This is an opportunity where it’s a proven winner. You can win here. It’s a great university. And I’m excited about taking this program to another level.”

Moser has a wealth of experience on both the men’s and women’s sides as both a head coach and an assistant coach. He has a head coaching record of 526-162 (.764 winning percentage) and has been on staffs that have compiled a record of 805-276 (.744 winning percentage).

“UT Tyler athletics is pleased to announce Tim Moser has been hired as its new head men’s basketball coach,” said Dr. Howard Patterson, The University of Texas at Tyler Vice President for Athletics. “UT Tyler’s academic reputation, teaching facilities and faculty staff are second to none. Patriot athletics’ reputation is solidifying its place as equally talented nationally with its excellent coaches, support staff and facilities. Coach Moser is a high achiever and I have no doubt his teams will immediately be successful on and off the court.”

Moser was a student assistant coach at Metro State College (1992-93), a graduate assistant at the University of Southern Utah (1993-94) and a graduate and student assistant at the University of Utah (1994-95).

Moser then became the assistant men’s basketball coach and was the golf coach at Eastern Wyoming College from 1995-98.

He then reserved his first head coaching position, leading both the men’s and women’s basketball programs at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado, from 1998-2006. His men’s teams were 172-68, and his women’s teams were 137-41.

Moser was named the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Alaska Anchorage and held that position from 2006-12. The Seawolves went 165-32 and was the winningest program in NCAA Division II during that span, making two NCAA Division II Final Four appearances, three NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearances and six NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.

Moser was an assistant coach at Colorado State University from 2013-18. Colorado State went 136-56 and won three regular season Mountain West championships in that span and also won the Mountain West Tournament in 2016.

Moser then returned to Eastern Wyoming to become the head men’s basketball coach from 2018-21, going 52-21.

In 2021, Moser joined the staff of Rebecca Alvidrez, who was taking over as the UT Tyler women’s basketball coach. Alvidrez worked for Moser from 2003-06 at Otero and from 2006-12 at the University of Alaska at Anchorage. They also worked together at Colorado State.

The UT Tyler women went 3-37 in their first two years of Division II competition before Alvidrez and Moser arrived. The Patriots went 46-16 the past two seasons, including winning the NCAA South Central Regional Championship and advancing to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight this past season.

“I think one of the things Rebecca and I talked about is we want to make sure we’re the team that plays harder than everybody else, and we want to make sure that we’re the team everyone wants to be a part of,” Moser said. “I think we accomplished that on the women’s side, and I think you can do the same thing here. You’ve got to get the right people and the right leadership. We’re definitely going to be a defensive-minded program.”’

Moser has also been a national coach on the men’s side for the U18 Latvian team and the U16 Serbian team.

Moser takes over for Louis Wilson, who resigned after four seasons with the Patriots, posting a record of 45-56. The Patriots were 9-17 overall and 5-17 in Lone Star Conference play this season.

Moser knows the LSC is a challenging league and building a program that is able to contend will be a process.

“You have to go get players,” he said. “You have to get tough kids. The travel is a grind. But a lot of it relies on the culture we’re going to build within this thing. No matter what the challenge is in front of us, we’re going to chase it.”

Other UT Tyler basketball coaches before Moser and Wilson were Matt Wallis (2003-07), Kenny Bizot (2007-13) and Jamon Copeland (2013-19). The program record for wins is 18 when the patriots went 18-8 in 2012-13 as an NCAA Division III program. The Patriots posted a 16-10 record in NCAA Division II under Wilson in 2021-22, which included the program’s best start at 7-0.