DebMoore

Deb Moore is in her 18th year as a member of the athletic communications and public relations staff and her 13th season working with the men’s basketball program in 2023-24.

Moore took the reigns as the primary media coordinator for the men’s basketball program during the 2021-22 season. She directed the publicity efforts of Oscar Tshiebwe’s “#OscarWorthy” campaign where he ultimately became the first UK player in program history to unanimously win all six major National Player of the Year honors and was a first-team All-American.

Moore’s responsibilities include the management of the day-to-day communications and public relations efforts for the men’s basketball team and contributes to UK’s social media presence, which is regarded as one of the best in the country.

She spent 11 seasons as the coordinator of men’s basketball game-day media operations. Under that role, Moore supervised the game-day table crew, all athletic communications and public relations game-day staff and oversees the credentialing for home games in Rupp Arena.

Moore was an integral member of the staff during the historic 2014-15 season that saw the Wildcats begin the year with a historic 38-0 run during its march to a second-consecutive Final Four. Moore was also a part of the staff that saw the Wildcats advance to the 2014 Final Four in one of the most memorable NCAA Tournament runs in college basketball history.

During the 2012 men’s basketball championship season, Moore served as a secondary contact as Anthony Davis captured national player of the year accolades and UK brought home the school’s eighth national title.

Moore has worked with 36 NBA Draft picks, including two No. 1 overall selections, 17 lottery selections and 26 first-round picks. The Wildcats have also garnered numerous All-America honors and All-Southeastern Conference selections, including two players winning national positional awards when Tyler Ulis won the Bob Cousy Award in 2016 and Malik Monk claimed the Jerry West Award in 2017. Tshiebwe won the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award and the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year for the best center in 2022.

Kentucky’s media guide claimed national awards in four consecutive seasons, including three “Best in the Nation” honors by the College Sports Information Directors of America during her tenure with the program.

While working with the Kentucky volleyball team from 2007-18, Craig Skinner led the Wildcats to 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including Sweet 16 appearances in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018. The team won the SEC title and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2018 and went undefeated in league play for its first back-to-back SEC title since 1987-88 in 2018. In 2017, Moore’s long-form feature on Skinner titled, “A Blueprint for Excellence” was tabbed the District 4 CoSIDA winner for Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest.

The Kentucky men’s golf team enjoyed one of the most prolific stretches in more than a decade with Moore serving as its publicist. The team finished 13th at the NCAA Championships in 2015-16 and Chip McDaniel earned All-America honors, becoming the first UK player to do so since 2005. The Wildcats won a Brian Craig-era record four tournaments and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the 10th time in program history in 2017-18.

During her tenure at Kentucky, Moore has served as the media coordinator for four NCAA volleyball regionals, eight NCAA volleyball first and second rounds, an NCAA softball super regional, six NCAA softball regionals, an NCAA baseball regional, the 2013 SEC Softball Tournament, and the 2007 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships.

Prior to her arrival in Lexington, Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism/mass communication from St. Bonaventure University. While at SBU, Moore served as the media coordinator for the 2006 Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships, where the Bonnies captured the men’s title for the first time in nearly a decade. In the summer of 2005, Moore interned with the public relations staff of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

Moore completed a master’s of science degree in kinesiology and health promotion with an emphasis in sport leadership from the University of Kentucky in December of 2011. The Fredericksburg, Virginia, native is a member of CoSIDA and the United States Basketball Writers Association. She is the daughter of Dave and Jodi Moore, and has one sister, Kate, who is a 2013 graduate of Kentucky.