Deon Moore Named New Track and Field/Cross Country Coach

Deon Moore, who has led Kecoughtan and Phoebus high schools to numerous state titles, has been named the track and field/cross country coach at Virginia Peninsula Community College.

Moore had a simple explanation for his interest in the position with the Gators.

"After coaching high school for so long and winning, I was looking to move up to the next level," he said.

That desire is exactly what VPCC athletics director Chris Moore, no relation, said is so important to a program in just its second year.

"You have to be able to find somebody who is still hungry, especially when you are building a program," Chris Moore said. "It takes vision. It takes hard work. It takes dedication."

Deon Moore started coaching in 2012 and won four state titles at Phoebus High School before adding three more at Kecoughtan. The championships have come in indoor and outdoor track and field.

"I plan to bring that same mentality to college," Deon Moore said. "Being that we're local, I know the athletes are here. We just need to figure a way to bring them out."

He graduated from Bethel High School and competed in track and field for the Bruins, as well as in AAU events. He competed in some post-high school events but did not attend college, instead going to trades school. He works as a security guard.

Deon Moore's success at Kecoughtan caught the attention of Chris Moore.

"I watched him from afar as he built Kecoughtan's track program. That doesn't go unnoticed," Chris Moore said. "He's been a state championship coach and he built that. But he's also worked at the grassroots levels with track clubs and just been super involved, highly respected."

For Deon Moore, working at VPCC is somewhat of a homecoming. His father, William Moore, played basketball for the Gators and was on their first state championship team in the 1980s. Chris Moore has a photo of the elder Moore holding the MVP trophy.

"He's excited," Deon said of his father. "My parents and my family are excited in general because we do a lot with track and field, starting from youth age all the way up through the collegiate age group."

That family connection to the College was a bonus for Chris Moore.

"I knew he would treat this program as if he was an alum because of the impact his dad had on basketball," Chris Moore said.

In addition to his state titles, Deon Moore was named the state's USATF and Cross Country Coaches Association coach of the year in 2024; the Milestat coach of the year in 2024, the Peninsula Sports Club coach of the year for indoor and outdoor track in 2023-24, and the NFHS coach of the year in 2022-23. He was at Phoebus from fall 2016 until spring 2019, and started at Kecoughtan in fall 2020.