Pro Football Hall of Fame assistant coach Tom Moore recalls his nearly 50-year NFL career, from Chuck Knoll’s Pittsburgh Steelers to the Peyton Manning-era Indianapolis Colts through Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, featuring the players he has developed (Manning, Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Barry Sanders, and others), his role in the evolution of professional football, and the keys to his player-centric coaching philosophy.
Tom Moore is the greatest NFL assistant coach of all-time, though he humbly cites the talent and hard work of his players as the keys to his success. In six decades, he has served as a guru of offensive football to the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Mike Webster, Randall McDaniel, Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, and more. In The Players’ Coach, the oldest active NFL coach chronicles the most exceptional players-first career in the history of professional football, talks football with his elite protégés and his underdog mentorees alike, and lays out the principles that helped him define the modern gridiron.
In an era of “systems,” “analytics,” and “Xs and Os,” Moore maintains a refreshing focus on the “Jimmys and Joes”—constantly refining and augmenting players’ individual talents and ability to read defenses, and building play-calling around the unique skills of his players. The Players’ Coach digs deep into Moore’s one-on-one sessions with all-time NFL greats, untested rookies, and grizzled veterans seeking football knowledge and play-making prowess.
The results speak for themselves: 25 postseason appearances, 15 division titles, and 4 Super Bowl victories in an ongoing career that has included the Steelers, Vikings, Lions, Saints, Colts, Jets, Titans, Cardinals, and Buccaneers.
With Moore’s coaching tips, leadership philosophy, and life lessons woven throughout chapters about coaching Manning, Bradshaw and Swann, Sanders, and a 40-something-year-old Brady, The Players’ Coach is a player-development masterclass. It is also an unforgettable, inspirational life-story, from humble beginnings to becoming the quarterback for the University of Iowa, a college coaching career, and then to assistant-coach and offensive-coordinator roles in six different decades. The Players’ Coach is destined to be a football classic, a coaching Bible, and must-read on leadership.
Author Biography:
Tom Moore enters his fifth season with the Buccaneers in 2024 and his 46th NFL season overall. The oldest active NFL coach at the age of 85, Moore was honored in 2015 with the Pro Football Writers of America Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award and later by the Pro Football Hall of Fame with an Award of Excellence for his lifetime contributions as an assistant coach. Following 13 seasons at the collegiate level and one year in the World Football League, Moore made the jump to the NFL as a wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1977. Over his decades in the NFL, his teams have earned 25 postseason appearances, 16 division titles, and four Super Bowl wins. He has coached such Hall of Fame players as Peyton Manning, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Randall McDaniel, Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, and Edgerrin James. Moore has coached alongside three Super Bowl-winning head coaches – Chuck Noll, Mike Ditka, and Tony Dungy – all of whom are enshrined in Canton. Moore and his wife, Emily, have two children, daughter, Terry, and son, Dan.
Rick Stroud is an award-winning journalist at the Tampa Bay Times, having spent three decades covering the Bucs and the NFL. He is a regular contributor to The Dan Patrick Show, The Rich Eisen Show, NFL Radio, ESPN, and other major national outlets.
