A Familiar Face, Jeff Moore Returns to Coach Zanesville Boys Basketball
ZANESVILLE, OH – A Blue Devil through and through, Jeff Moore is a familiar face to the Blue Devils basketball court. A varsity assistant, and two-time girls head coach, the 1985 Zanesville graduate is back to take the reins of the boys basketball team for the 2026-2027 season.
Moore’s resume lists coaching stops of nearly every variety at Zanesville. He served as the junior high coach from 1990-1992 and a junior varsity and varsity assistant from 1992 to 1997. Moore rounded out the 90s with a three year stint as the head coach of the Steubenville boys before returning to Zanesville as an assistant until 2007.
He served as he head coach of the Lady Blue Devils basketball team for a combined ten years from 2011 to 2017, and then 2019 to 2023. Though after three years away from the sidelines, he just couldn’t stay away for very long.
“It’s surreal to come back and have the opportunity, you know, after twelve years of being a varsity boys assistant here with Scott (Aronhalt) to get the opportunity to come back and the head coach” says Moore.
During his time with the girls team, he achieved great success, amassing 151 career wins and five East Central Ohio League titles. Now as the head coach of the Zanesville boys for the first time, he expects no difference to his time coaching the girls.
“It’s basketball, they are players, so you’re going to coach players, and I took the girls program and I just coached them like basketball players. The bottom line is you’re coaching basketball and you’re teaching them the same things.”
Taking a brief three-year coaching hiatus, Moore turned to broadcasting, helping WHIZ radio station AM 1240 call games for both basketball and football. Though something was always missing when he was that close to the sideline, game in and game out.
Moore adds with a smile, “I’m just happy to come back, I’ve still got the itch. As an old coach, you still get the itch once in a while to see what it’s like to be on the sideline, and you miss those game nights for sure.”
He takes over for Cedric Harris, who submitted his resignation as the team’s coach in May of this year after five years, and despite heavy roster turnover, sees a lot of promise for a team which reached its greatest win total in nearly a decade, a season ago. He will be depending on three seniors to help lead the team when they hit the court running ahead of this season: Lucca Wood, Quinnell Angler, and Maddox Mohler.
“I hope those guys want to be leaders, to come in, and show the younger guys the ropes, how you act, what you’re supposed to do” he says. “I’ve seen them play for the there years I’ve called their games, and they got to be the leaders.” By the time the upcoming season comes to a close, Moore hopes to have made an impact and his mark on the Zanesville basketball program once more.
“I hope they learned a lot of things, I hope we’ve developed some relationships with my staff and myself, and that they take it seriously and want to do well for themselves, and maybe learn something that they can take on to their next endeavor, whatever that might be when they are finished.”
The foundation is certainly there for a team with a new coach who looks to set the Blue Devils up for current and future success.
