Peyton Manning really liked Tom Moore, and the legendary quarterback should have. Moore was a no-nonsense offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts from 1998 through 2009, and then an offensive assistant in 2010. Those covered a lot of the seasons that Manning was in Indy, and the offense was elite.
Moore went on to work for four more NFL franchises, including five seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and seven years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is now 87 years old, but he isn't done yet. He is seemingly only done working in the NFL.
Moore has a new gig as a senior consultant to the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes. The move makes sense as Moore has proven to be a fantastic offensive coach for sixty years, and he went to the University of Iowa from 1958 to 1960. In other words, the coach is simply going home at the end of his career.
Indianapolis Colts legend Tom Moore finds a new home with the Iowa Hawkeyes
What is sad is some of the ignorant (in the truest sense of the word) responses on social media to Iowa hiring Moore. One poster calling themselves BJ (awkward for them to be snarky on X when they can't seem to come up with a more interesting handle) wrote, "Was the ghost of Don Coryell unavailable? Seriously, leave it to Iowa to find the one active coach older than Kirk Ferentz."
Another wrote, "Good move. They need someone to bring in fresh, young ideas." Clearly, they were trying to be sarcastic, based on the last part of that.
What makes the posts more, well...dumb, is that they are ironic. There is inherent ageism built in, and trying to mock the hiring of an 87-year-old man, but it is the presumed younger social media posters who are the ones who look most silly.
Tom Moore has nothing to prove to anyone. First, he isn't a coach at Iowa, but a consultant. If the Hawkeyes wanted him to coach, Moore clearly could and would do so quite well.
Secondly, no one would understand how "modern" offenses work better than Moore. He was coaching in the NFL just last season, and had done so almost every season since 1977, when he started with the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the league adjusted and adapted, so did Moore, and he did so at the highest level of the sport.
Iowa is going to be better off by having Tom Moore as part of the program, just as the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning were better for having the coach. The hope is that the people mocking Iowa's move to hire Moore root for other teams that play the Hawkeyes, and when the Hawkeyes play those teams in 2026, Iowa destroys them.
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