Through the years: Bill Moos and his Northwest connections

Athletic director Bill Moos, who decided to depart Washington State on Sunday to take the reins at Nebraska, also is leaving behind some deep Northwest roots.

From Olympia to Missoula, from Eugene, Ore., to Pullman, Moos, who still maintains a family farm in Valleyford, is as Northwest as it gets:

– Born in Edwall, Wash., Moos was raised on a wheat and cattle ranch in eastern Washington. He attended high school in Olympia when his father served in the governor’s cabinet.

– Moos earned his bachelor’s degree in history from WSU and was a three-year letterman in football before concluding his collegiate career by representing the Cougars in the 1972 East-West Shrine all-star game in San Francisco. He served as co-captain on the WSU 1972 squad and garnered All-Pac-8 Conference First Team honors.

– He was a student assistant football coach at Washington State for the 1973 season, then spent part of 1974 in Washington, D.C., serving as a government intern.

– Moos began his athletics career in 1982 as assistant athletics director at WSU and also served as the school’s associate director (1988-90).

– Was Montana’s athletic director from 1990-’95, During his Montana tenure, he developed a facility enhancement plan that created more than $4 million in improvements, and lifted the school’s fund-raising efforts to show a 300 percent increase in private and corporate gifts.

– From 1995 to 2007, served as AD at Oregon. During his 12-year run, the Ducks won 13 Pac-10 championships. Moos oversaw a UO athletics budget that grew from $18.5 million his first year to more than $40 million. He also guided a major expansion of Autzen Stadium that added seating and luxuy suits.

– After a largely successful stint in Eugene, Moos’ relationship with Nike founder Phil Knight became tenuous and Oregon’s AD resigned – and retired – in 2007. Moos returned to his ranch in Valleyford, just south of Spokane, where he’d raise cattle for two full years before returning to collegiate athletics.

– Named Washington State athletic director in 2010, Moos secured a 10-year, $35-million marketing rights agreement with IMG. He also oversaw a $130 million overhaul of Martin Stadium, featuring a remodeled press box with luxury seating, loge boxes and club room. Also included in the project was a state-of-the-art video board and an 80,000-square-foot football operations building which serves as the stadium’s showpiece and opened in May, 2014. He also helped the Pac-12 negotiate a 12-year, $3-billion contract with Fox and ESPN. Among other facility enhancements under Moos include a center-hung video board at Beasley Coliseum, an indoor golf hitting facility and a renovated lower soccer field.