Moore Motivation: New Ohio State Coach Anxious to Turn Around the Buckeyes

Amanda Moore (née Barnes) was in a car with her two small children, Cade and Evangeline, on her way to Columbus, Ohio, on July 5. It wasn’t for an extended holiday. Moore was on a trip that was part business, part homecoming.

On June 27, Ohio State senior deputy athletics director Janine Oman announced Moore as the next Buckeyes women’s lacrosse coach. For Moore, it marks a return to the Buckeyes. In 2009, she cut her teeth as the goalies coach in her first job after graduating from North Carolina.

“I got into coaching at the urging of my mentors, Jenny Levy and Phil Barnes,” Moore said. “I went out [to Ohio State], saw it and loved it right away. Two years later, I was hooked. I knew that was what I wanted to pursue as a career. I loved coaching and teaching 18-22-year-olds.”

After a two-year stint with the Buckeyes, Moore joined the staff at Boston University for a year. Then it was onto Duke, where she coached under Kerstin Kimel and helped her one-time rivals to a Final Four appearance in 2015.

“Having played at Carolina and coached at Duke, a Final Four team, there is a drumbeat of excellence of you and everyone around you,” Moore said. “It’s not just women’s lacrosse in a vacuum. It’s everyone you are sharing a hall with. The expectation is conference championship, NCAA or we fell short of the mark.”

Moore felt she was on the verge of that kind of culture at East Carolina, a program she built from the ground up as its first-ever head coach. The 2023 Pirates completed their first above-.500 season, finishing 10-8 and pushing eventual AAC champion Florida in a 12-9 semifinal loss. The decision to leave the program wasn’t easy.

“We loved ECU,” Moore said. “We had seen a lot of growth, especially the last two seasons, and I’m excited to see them continue to take steps forward. We were at the doorstep of something really special, but Ohio State called.”

Moore answered. During her interview, she was happy to have a tour guide. Ohio State had undergone plenty of changes in the 13 years since she left. Moore’s office will be in the Schumaker Complex, which also houses men’s lacrosse, rowing and soccer.

“The weight room at the time was like five racks, and now it feels like it’s 50 racks,” Moore said. “It’s massive. The locker room used to be those aluminum lockers we were used to having in high school. Now, it’s luxury wood with leather seats and couches.”

But the crown jewel is the newly Christened Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium, a $24 million project complete with heated turf perfect for chilly Midwest February games.

“I don’t think there’s anything like it,” Moore said.

Though there have been big strides in facilities, the Buckeyes have struggled. The team went 5-12 last season and didn’t win a game in the Big Ten. The last time they finished above-.500 in conference play was 2014 when they went 3-2. Moore is impressed by the off-field changes but hopes consistency will become a calling card between the lines.

“For me, it’s a consistency of play both defensively and offensively, establishing more of an identity, disciplined defensive play, limiting fouls and playing a clean game,” Moore said. “Understanding ball movement offensively … the game within a game, the draw, we have to figure out how to win more possessions. We’re playing against the best of the best.”

Ohio State finished last in the league in draws in 2023. Moore is barely a week into the job and still sorting through who is returning for a fifth year. But she expects one of the team’s top draw threats in Jamie Lasda back. Lasda finished third in draws (35) and led the Buckeyes in points (57) and assists (30). She was second in goals (27).

“She is someone who we saw on film controlling the game from up top and not the draw,” Moore said. “I am curious to see how we can grow her game and get some pieces around her, maybe give her some relief in some areas.”

Others, like defender Emily Magalotti (30 GB, 14 CT), midfielders Annie Hargraves (13 G) and Casey Roberts (17 G, 16 A, 19 GB) and attacker Zoe Coleman (13 G, 11 A), also popped on film. But anyone can earn a spot.

“Sports is the ultimate meritocracy,” Moore said. “What you do in practice earns you opportunities in games. It’s, ‘Let’s get in there and see who works in a little bit of a different system.’ There are going to be differences between our staff and the previous staff to see who continues to grow and get better.”

New faces will also emerge as the future under Moore unfolds. She’s ready to hit the recruiting trail looking for her style of Buckeye: Scrappy. Gritty. Someone who wants it.

“There are non-negotiables to play in the Big Ten,” Moore said. “You have to have the size, length and speed, acceleration and deceleration, and at the very base level quality of skill work so you are not behind and able to pick up on more nuanced and higher-level skills. From a personality standpoint, the big thing is: Is this an athlete who wants to be challenged?”

The Big Ten is one of the nation’s premier leagues for women’s lacrosse — home to the NCAA champion in Northwestern and the most successful program in history in Maryland. Moore has respect for those two programs, but she’s not going in starstruck.

“Penn State and Rutgers and even Hopkins challenge,” Moore said. “If you are winning two games in conference, you’re likely a Top 20 team. After that, it’s anybody’s ball game.”

Of course, Moore wants to win more than two conference games, and she’s not shying away from hopes to grab the automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament with a conference title in year one. But after building a program from square one, she knows success is a long game. She has her eye on achieving it with the Buckeyes.

“Long term, we want to be one of those teams perennially in the Top 20, for Ohio state to be a destination in the Midwest for recruits and families,” Moore said.