John Moon, USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2021
John Moon, one of the fastest men in the world in the 1960s, has become one of the most successful collegiate coaches on the Eastern Seaboard and continues to leave his mark worldwide as he adds to an already incredible legacy and a Hall of Fame career.
Moon’s passion for track & field dated back to a standout prep career at Linden (N.J.) High School that continued collegiately at Tennessee State University and as a post-collegiate athlete for the U.S. All-Army Team.
He developed into a collegiate star with the Tigers, winning the 100-yard final at the 1960 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and matching the world record of 9.3 later that year. That came one year after Moon finished third in the same event at the 1959 NCAA Championships.
Following graduation in 1961, Moon went to West Point and turned in a number of notable performances under its banner: Moon matched the all-time world best in the 100 meters of 10.0 in 1963 and famously handed the legendary “Bullet Bob” Hayes his final loss the following year.
Once Moon wrapped up his athletic career, he got his first taste of coaching at the Kilmer Job Center and then jumped in with both feet at Rahway (N.J.) High School, in addition to handling administrative duties at the school. Moon created a juggernaut out of a dormant track & field program, leading the Indians to 33 championships and a 99-11 dual meet record in seven years. Perhaps even more special was that each and every senior Moon coached went to college.
Moon’s rise continued in 1972, when he was named the head coach of cross country and track & field at Seton Hall University. He didn’t have to travel too far for his new job, since Seton Hall is just 14 miles away from Rahway in South Orange. And it’s at Seton Hall, where Moon has spent a better part of the past five decades.
Success came immediately, just like everywhere else in Moon’s athletic endeavors.
The Pirates won the men’s mile relay at the 1973 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships and followed that up with a meet-record performance of 3:14.0 the following year – en route to a fourth-place team finish – to become just the third program to win back-to-back national titles in that event. When The Hall won again in 1981, it stood alone as the only program with three national indoor titles to its credit in the mile relay.
Five more national event titles followed for the Pirates, including four from the women’s team during a 1994 campaign that saw them finish third indoors and eighth outdoors. Flirtisha Harris provided the spark for The Hall in 1994, sweeping the indoor and outdoor 400-meter crowns and anchoring both of the championship indoor and outdoor 4×400 relay teams. With Harris leading the way, the Pirates became the first women’s program in NCAA history – regardless of division – to win each of those quarter-mile titles between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
With as much national success as The Hall had in track & field – which included 73 All-America honors over the years – conference dominance was just a formality. From 1980 until 2010, when the university cut its track & field programs, the Pirates racked up six team titles and 225 individual or relay titles at the BIG EAST Championships.
Moon, who is now solely the head cross country coach at The Hall, has held several prestigious international appointments over the years. Back in 2000, Moon served as the first assistant coach for the USA men’s track & field team at the Sydney Olympic Games. Five years before that, Moon led Team USA at the Pan American Games in which the Americans won 35 medals.
In addition to coaching, Moon is a retired commander of the United States Naval Reserve.
He resides in Somerset, New Jersey, with his wife Thelma.