By Kevin Sweeney

Tom Moore’s run as the head coach at Quinnipiac is over. 

The school announced this morning that the 51-year old Jim Calhoun disciple has been fired following a first round exit at the MAAC Tournament this weekend. Moore finishes his time at Quinnipiac with a 162-146 record and 4 postseason tournament appearances in 10 years. He also oversaw the program’s transition from the NEC to the MAAC prior to the 2013-14 season.  However, the last two seasons have been rough for the Bobcats, with consecutive 20 loss campaigns ranking near the bottom of the MAAC. 

The Quinnipiac job is one that will likely be highly sought-after. The MAAC has served as a stepping stone for current power conference coaches Fran McCaffery (Siena->Iowa), Ed Cooley (Fairfield->Providence) and Kevin Willard (Iona->Seton Hall). In addition, the Bobcats have the best on-campus facilities in the MAAC, with the beautiful TD Bank Sports Center holding approximately 3,500. 

The immediate future of the program rests on the shoulders of rising sophomores Mikey Dixon & Peter Kiss, along with rising senior big man Chaise Daniels. Should that trio all elect to remain in Hamden, the new coach will have a nice core to build around. If not, it could be a long rebuild for the new head man. 

One obvious candidate for the vacancy would be Iona assistant Jared Grasso. Grasso is regarded as an excellent recruiter and one of the top assistant coaches in mid-major basketball. He’s also an alum of the university, where he was a 1,000 point scorer, and was an assistant there in the 2005-2006 season. 

More to come as we get more information on this developing story.