Thirteen months ago, Brandon Moore’s football universe was teeming with brilliant, shimmering stars and intoxicating possibility. The momentum? Immeasurable. The happiness? Off the charts.
Moore was the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year at Colorado School of Mines, leading the program to the national championship game. He had just landed a job at the University of San Diego, a sunny step up to Division I’s Football Championship Subdivision.
He was a winner. He had a foothold on a higher rung. The whole thing, a first-class ticket on an exhilarating professional freight train ride.
In less than four months, a boulder dropped onto his world.
The Grand Canyon-sized kind.
“I don’t know if jarring is a strong enough word for it,” Moore said this week as USD prepared for Saturday’s spring game, scheduled for noon in Torero Stadium. “It kind of knocked me off my feet.”
The Union-Tribune revealed on Aug. 23 that the university was investigating ugly allegations of hazing. A police probe and lawsuits followed, staining the faith-based university.
Moore’s legs were knocked out from under him before the first whistle of the fall.
“At the start of this thing, I didn’t know how to navigate it,” Moore said. “I had never been through anything like this. This was my second year as a head coach. So there was some fear.
“So yeah, I definitely considered not playing and ending the season, just in terms of figuring out what was best for the players and best for the university.
“It was definitely an option.”
Though the fallout continues, the smoke is clearing.
The criminal investigation was closed in February with no charges filed, a San Diego County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson confirmed to the Union-Tribune.
The university ended its inquiry earlier, President James T. Harris III relayed in a campus statement Dec. 14.
The decks are now cleared for an unprecedented reboot.
“I hate that I had to go through that, but my faith teaches me that there are no accidents and everything happens for a reason,” Moore said. “I think it further galvanized why I’m here.”
The baby steps began with tearing the house down to the studs and build it board by board and nail by nail.
USD brought in third parties, conducted programs and put those who participated and were still with the program and those impacted by it through something called restorative justice.
They stripped away the barriers, ripped off Band-Aids and poked at the rawest of nerves.
“The one I’m very excited about is called the Team Trust Challenge,” Moore explained. “Basically, it’s accountability work. They share what builds them, what their relationship with their family is, what’s important to them.
“What type of adversity have they already faced. Just so we have an understanding.”
The goal targeted a destination beyond lip service.
“It’s accountability,” Moore said. “We’ve got to own what we did. We’ve got to own what happened. We’ve got to own the details of it. Not just saying, yes it happened and move on. No, it’s this is my role in what happened and be transparent with each other.”
Moore has secured one unwavering believer.
USD General Counsel Tom Skinner led the university’s legal side of things, sorting through the tangled wreckage. He said he learned along the way that the Toreros have the right man for the unique and complicated job.
“He’s been tremendous through this,” Skinner said. “If he can call plays and coach as well as he’s handled all of this, he’s going to be very successful. I told our board, ‘If this guy isn’t who I say he is, I’ll resign. He’s real. The guy has integrity.’
“He’s got me, the skeptical lawyer, ready to run through a wall. He’s already turned the culture 180 degrees.”
The proof will be in the long-term pudding.
All players involved, whether considered active or passive participants, faced some sort of discipline, Skinner said. The cases of those who additionally went through a formal student-conduct process with another arm of the university have been resolved. A comparison of the 2023 and ’24 rosters show two members of Moore’s staff have left the program.
“One of the others things that we’ve done is taken away the idea that everybody has a right to come out here and play on Saturdays,” Moore said. “That’s just not the case. It’s a privilege to play this game. It’s a privilege to play at the University of San Diego. It’s a privilege to wear the Torero blue.
“You’ve got to earn the privilege to do that.”
Does any part of Moore wish it was not him who first had to inform university officials and hit the go button for all the pain and chaos that would follow?
“It was so easy,” he said. “There were no second thoughts. Individuals were affected, negatively, and something needed to be done about it, regardless of what it meant for the season.
“What’s important is the health and safety of our athletes.”
Fixing it all means fixing themselves.
“It’s making sure players understand what integrity means and having a strong moral compass,” Moore said. “It’s having the strength and courage to tell somebody, ‘No, that’s beyond my beliefs. No, that’s a direct assault on my integrity.’
“It’s giving them the courage to own their space, believe in who they are what they’re doing. Those things are done through acts, they’re done through being uncomfortable. They’re done through having difficult and deep conversations with each other.”
Maybe, just maybe, the stars in that football universe will shine bright again.
