Longtime staff member and coach Alex Moore is leaving Boise State Esports to pursue a new chapter in his life. Moore recently received a job offer from Riot Games to be a broadcast engineer. Moore will leave Boise soon and move to California to start his new job, which begins in June. This announcement caps off Coach Moore’s 6 year history with Boise State Esports, as both a student and a staff member.
Time as a Student
Starting Out
Alex Moore started out in the Boise State Esports program as a varsity player for the university’s League of Legends team. During this time, he was better known by his gamertag “NotKoba”.
“I started playing league of legends in late 2012,” said Moore in an interview. “In 2017 my roommate told me about an Esports meeting that was going to happen in the Math building on campus. We both went and heard Dr. Haskell and Sulpan talk about competative gaming and building some teams here at Boise State. I immediately filled out the signup sheet. From there I played with the team and even got to travel to Las Vegas to compete for the 2019 MWC Championships and made it to the CLOL Nationals Wildcard tournament.”
Atremis Rainn, former varsity player on Boise State’s Overwatch team and now a well known esports coach and caster, has been with Boise State Esports for nearly its entire run. Rainn has been with the program all the way through their undergraduate, masters, and PhD studies. Yet even a program veteran like Rainn still hasn’t been around as long as Moore has. Rainn remarked about Moore’s professionalism during his early days as a player.
“Coach Moore started in the esports program as a player just before I joined. He quickly became someone who demonstrated strong leadership and responsibility,” Rainn said. “When he transitioned to leadership his background as player made him personable and empathetic towards myself and teammates.”
Getting Noticed
Rainn wasn’t the only one who noticed Moore’s professionalism and dedication to the program. Boise State Esports head coach Doc Haskell also took notice of Moore’s work ethic when it was time to hire a new assistant coach for the program. Dr. Haskell recounted his decision to hire Moore in a previous interview.
“As a student and a player, he always had the pulse of the team. They relied on him for most things,” said Dr. Haskell. “When we hired him … he quickly confirmed he can prepare players for competitive and academic success.”
Career as Coach
Graduation and Hiring
Moore graduated after three years of being a varsity player. Shortly after, Boise State hired Moore to be Dr. Haskell’s assistant and assistant coach for the program as a whole. In addition to helping Dr. Haskell with day-to-day operations, Moore traveled with Haskell to various tournaments and special events across the nation. Moore was assigned to coaching duties for games he had expertise with, such as then newly released Valorant.
Moore’s original game, League of Legends, would cease to be a varsity game in 2021. The dissolution of the team freed up resources for other games to join Boise State’s program. This led to one of Moore’s greatest contributions to the program. This was Boise State’s Halo Infinite varsity team, which played for two academic years from 2022-2023.
The formation of the team by Coach Moore was admittedly last minute. Moore found various tournament openings for Halo and knew players around the university who casually played the game. In the span of just a few weeks Moore had gathered enough players for the team and assumed role as the team’s coach. Even though the team was fresh, it found competitive success right out of the gate. Moore lead to the team to winning the ECAC Halo Infinite Championship in the team’s debut season.
Record as Coach
Moore had a successful career coaching Boise State’s Valorant team as well, leading the team to multiple victories over the past 3 years. The most notable of these included winning the Mountain West Championship in Spring 2022, and attending the Red Bull Campus Clutch nationals in Fall 2022.
“During my working days at Boise State we played 1,211 matches across 7 titles. We had 863 wins and 348 losses. That’s at 71% winrate,” said Moore.
Multiple championship wins happened in the program under Coach Moore’s career. Boise State Esports head coach Dr. Haskell recounted one of the first major championship victories he and Coach Moore oversaw.
“Alex and I were in the room when Wacey Williams beat Shenandoah for the NACE National Championship in Madden,” said Dr. Haskell. “It was such a feeling of elation that we both jumped up and down and shared a wonderful, awkward gamer-hug. It was the first of 4 national titles we would celebrate together. He felt as much joy as I did and knew how much work went into it because he shared it all the way.”
Coach Moore consistently served as a morale booster for students and staff every day he worked at the program. As Artemis Rainn explains, Moore could always lift team spirits no matter how stressful a situation got.
“He always greeted me with a smile when I would come to work,” Rainn said. “He had a special knack for toning down stressful days and situations to make even the worst moments funny. I will miss those goofy stressful moments we shared.”
Going to Riot Games
A New Job
During the Spring 2023 semester, Coach Moore received a job offer from Riot Games, makers of the the very games he competed and coached in, League of Legends and Valorant.
“I was reached out to by someone from OnwardStar, a company that helps fill positions for clients like Riot Games,” Moore explained. “My new role at Riot is as a Broadcast Engineer. I will be working with the team during all of the Riot broadcasts including VCT, LCS, Game Changers, and more. I will do a lot of the setup and repair for pieces involving A/V within the Riot Games Arena. It’s a big jump, but I’ll use what I’ve learned here in Boise to get started and learn.”
With this new position, Moore will be involved with some the most popular esports events in the world. Riot’s broadcast of the League world championships reached a peak of over 5 million viewers on Twitch. In terms of Valorant and League of Legends, there is no higher level than that of working for Riot Games.
“I’m looking forward to joining the big leagues and learning how they do broadcasts at that level. I’m going to be able to learn from seasoned veterans that have been setting up broadcasts for decades,” said Moore.
Final Goodbyes
While this new job represents an exciting new journey for Coach Moore, he expressed a bit of a qualm at having to leave the community he spent his last six years with.
“The hardest part is leaving all of the people here. Boise State has been my home for the last 6 years. 3 as a player and 3 as a coach. I’ve made so many friends that it feels like I’m leaving behind my family,” Moore said.
However, true to form, Coach Moore made sure to leave parting words of encouragement.
“Boise State Esports is still in its early years and things are going to continue growing and improving every year,” Moore said. “Doc has a great plan for the program and is going to continue steering things in the right direction. If you make each year better than before, Boise will set itself apart as the Alabama of esports.”
On behalf of everyone at Boise State Esports, we congratulate Coach Moore on his new job and wish him the absolute best pursuing it. Furthermore, we thank him for all the great memories he provided us during his tenure. Head Coach Doc Haskell reflected on those memories in his goodbye message to Moore.
“Coach Moore will always be here. He built this program. He poured more of his heart and soul in than anyone over the last 6 years. He’ll always be welcome back so I don’t really feel it’s goodbye,” said Haskell.
Among students, no one summed up Boise State’s feelings towards Coach Moore than Artemis Rainn in their final goodbye message to Moore.
“Good luck and have fun. You’re gonna crush it at your new job,” said Rainn. “Don’t forget to visit, and we can always game online together!”
Written by Jacob Palmer.