Why Wes Moore wishes Kellie Harper, Lady Vols basketball weren't playing NC State in March Madness

RALEIGH, N.C. – Kellie Harper and Wes Moore still remember their days recruiting together for Chattanooga basketball fondly, especially the first summer when Harper was only 24 years old.

They both told the same story Sunday, though they had slightly different versions. According to Harper, Moore doesn't like to pay full price for a lot of things. So Moore, who now coaches at NC State, didn't want to pay the extra fees for a driver under 25 and didn't let her rent the car for recruiting. Harper would ride shotgun and read the map, and sometimes the Lady Vols coach's directions came at the last minute.

"We would just about have passed the road, and she'd go, 'Oh, we're supposed to turn right there!' " Moore said. "I would just whip it and turn right."

To Harper, Moore's driving was perfect for her directions.

"We were going to get off no matter how late that decision was made," Harper said. "We were a pretty good match from the first moment we worked together, for a lot of reasons."

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On Friday morning, before all the craziness of the weekend started, Moore got to Reynolds Coliseum early to catch Harper and her husband and assistant coach, Jon, before her practice began. He stood on the court chatting with the Harpers, the trio now 20 years removed since they all coached together at Chattanooga from 2001-04. They all call each other their dearest friends, and neither side is excited about having to end the other's NCAA Tournament run Monday.

"On one hand it's great to see them and visit with them a little bit," Moore said Friday. "On the other hand, I wish they weren't here."

The moment they have all tried to avoid for years is upon them. They're squaring off again for the first time since the Harpers coached at Western Carolina, which was in the same conference as Chattanooga, where Moore coached from 1998-2013. The No. 6 seed Lady Vols (20-12) will face No. 3 seed NC State (28-6) on Monday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN) in the second round.

Moore said they have tried to avoid playing each other besides preseason scrimmages in the fall, which they schedule often.

"You hate to play really close friends," Moore said. "We've been fortunate to dodge it as long as we have."

Kellie Harper had similar feelings, saying it can be fun to play a familiar face, but it's tough because "it's somebody we pull for" and "respect a lot."

Moore's connection with Kellie goes further back than being his assistant at Chattanooga. Moore said he tried to recruit Kellie Harper out of high school when he was an assistant at NC State. But they may have never become dear friends if Moore hadn't lured her away from her first assistant coaching job at Auburn when he was coaching at Chattanooga.

But Moore found a way: He offered Jon Harper a job as the third assistant coach.

"That's how I pulled that off, man," Moore said. "And Jon didn't make much money, but he had two responsibilities: Go to lunch with me every day and play golf anytime I wanted to. So it was a pretty good job. I can't believe he left me and went with Kellie, to be honest."

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Kellie Harper eventually left Chattanooga for her first head coaching job at Western Carolina from 2004-09 before getting hired at NC State in 2009. She was fired in 2013 and the Wolfpack hired Moore.

Jon Harper and Moore still vacation together every year, spending a week in Las Vegas with friends every August. Moore joked that Jon Harper probably wins and loses "a whole lot more" money than he even brings with him.

"They've got an agreement they don't talk about his gambling unless he either wins or loses a million dollars," Moore said. "So, so far he hadn't had to tell Kellie much."

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.