For nearly every student on Loyola’s campus, men’s basketball coach Porter Moser is known for what he does on the court, but for one student, he means a lot more.
That student is Jordan Moser, a freshman women’s basketball player who enrolled at the school this fall. Jordan is a forward for the Ramblers, and she looks up to her dad as both a coach and as a father.
“He’s just amazing,” she said. “He’s my role model, honestly. I look up to him so much.”
Jordan Moser is the eldest of Porter’s four children, and he says it means the world to him that his daughter is on campus at the school.
“It’s way cooler than I ever imagined,” he said. “I have a lot of friends who have their kids going away to college and they’re dying. I just feel blessed. I’m sitting there in my office, and all of the sudden she’ll pop in.”
The excitement about their ability to spend time together goes both ways, as Jordan found out when she received a call from a familiar on-campus number.
“He said ‘hey, you free right now?’ And I was like ‘yeah,’ and he said ‘want to go get lunch?’” Jordan Moser recounted. “I said sure! Quick little things like that mean a lot.”
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Jordan Moser admitted that she took some time before deciding which school to attend, and that her dad promised to give her space. That’s exactly what the Ramblers’ coach has done, sitting in the stands for his daughter’s games and allowing her to succeed and fail on her own terms.
“He made it clear from the start. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to be calling every day and watching your practices,’” she recalled. “It’s cool because he’s here, but I’m not walking with him to class every day or going home every day.”
“I’m so proud of her that she made the decision, even knowing it’s going to be a little added pressure that people might start giving her because of who I am, but she’s a tough girl,” Porter added. “She’s handling it great, and I know she’ll continue to do it.”
