University of Wisconsin Green Bay Athletics

Josh Moon is in his 5th year as the Mark Murphy Endowed Director of Athletics at UW-Green Bay after being named the 10th AD in UWGB history in July, 2021. During his tenure, Green Bay has taken major steps forward in competition, culture, community and elevating the profile of "Northeast Wisconsin's Division 1 Team." The Phoenix won 5 championships in the last 3 years including women's basketball winning the Horizon League Championships in 2024 and 2025 including 2 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2023, men's soccer won the Horizon League Tournament Championship and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. Women's golf won the program's first ever Horizon League Championship in 2023. Moon has transformed both annual and major giving to Phoenix athletics, with annual Phoenix Fund support up 200% from 5 years ago, and he has secured multiple major gifts that have helped elevate multiple areas within the department. 

Green Bay coaches have won 5 Horizon League Coach of the Year Awards in the past 2 years, including the 2024 Horizon League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year and the 2024 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year, Sundance Wicks. Moon hired Wicks in March, 2023 to transform a Phoenix men's basketball program that was at the bottom of Division 1. "Sunny" engineered the the 9th largest win turnaround in Division 1 men's basketball history, and the team achieved the greatest single-year win turnaround in Horizon League history in 2023-2024, with the Phoenix finishing with 18 wins. Coach Wicks was hired as the head coach at the University of Wyoming in May, 2024 and Moon immediately turned to Doug Gottlieb, the 10th head coach in Green Bay history, to continue the RISE of Phoenix Basketball into the future. 

Legendary women's basketball Coach Kevin Borseth announced his retirement in April 2024, after 821 wins and 30 regular season and tournament championships at UWGB. Moon quickly turned the reigns over to Phoenix hall-of-famer and one of the greatest players to don the green and white, Kayla Karius (formerly Tetschlag). Coach Karius led the Phoenix to 29 wins and a Horizon League Championship in her first season. As a player, she led the team to the sweet 16 in 2011 and she became just the 4th head coach in the storied history of UWGB women's basketball. Karius was previously the head coach at the University of South Dakota where she led the team to 23 wins and a pair of WNIT wins in 2024. 

Phoenix student-athletes continue to excel in the classroom, with 19 straight semesters with an average GPA of at least 3.3, including posting an all-time high average GPA of 3.57 in the spring 2024 semester. Moon has helped ignite the fire on the fundraising front including securing one of the largest athletics related gifts in University history, and additional major gifts that will transform the student-athlete experience and keep the Phoenix competitive in a rapidly evolving Division 1 athletics landscape. 

An athletics administrator with more than 18 years in collegiate athletics, Moon arrived in Green Bay after 9+ years as the Director of Athletics at NCAA Division II Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. As a senior leader and key fundraiser for the University, Moon helped generate more than $62 million in private gifts for the University in three years, allowing for the construction of transformational athletic facilities of more than $48 million. The new athletic facilities included the first ever on-campus stadiums for football and softball, a new soccer stadium, and a state-of-the-art football/turf practice facility. Moon helped cultivate and secure two of the largest private gifts in university history including naming rights for both the football and softball stadiums. Moon also was instrumental in securing the transformational sports medicine partnership with Sanford Health in 2015, which provided exclusive sports medicine services and at the time, the largest corporate gift in University history that significantly enhanced Wolves athletic scholarship offerings. 
 
Northern finished as the NCAA Division II National runner-up in men's basketball in 2018, won four consecutive conference championships in men's basketball, made five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in women's basketball, and won back-to back conference championships in volleyball. Furthermore, the Wolves led all of NCAA Division II in both men's men's (3,680) and women's basketball (2,609) average attendance each year. 

Prior to arriving at Northern, Moon spent three years as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics at Western Illinois University (2009-2012). At Western Illinois, Moon served as the athletic department's number two administrator and assisted in overall management and operation of a 20-sport, NCAA Division I athletic program. During his tenure, Leatherneck football reached the second round of the FCS playoffs in 2010, men's soccer qualified for the NCAA Division I soccer tournament twice, and men's basketball qualified for Division I post-season competition for the first time in 35 years. He previously served for five years (2004-2009) in a variety of roles in the Athletics Department at Central Michigan University, including Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Sports Administration. The Chippewas won multiple MAC Championships in football and wrestling, and won the prestigious MAC Cartwright award, for excellence in athletics, academics, and citizenship. 

Moon has served on multiple national committees during his career including: NCAA Division I Athletics Certification Peer-Reviewer, NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program Peer Advisory Group, NCAA Division I Amateurism Fact-Finding Committee, and the National Association of Athletics Compliance Board of Directors. Moon also served as a member of the NCAA Division II National Basketball Committee, was Chair of the Central Region and was a member of the NCAA Division II Football Super Region 4 Regional Advisory Committee. Locally, he was member of the Aberdeen Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors. He currently serves the Green Bay Community as a Board Member of Discover Green Bay and Aspiro. 

Moon attended UW-La Crosse where he earned his bachelor's degrees in Exercise and Sport Science and Business Administration and was a 3-year letter winner on the football team, 1^st-Team All-Conference Defensive Back, and was part of two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship teams. He earned his Master's in Administration from Central Michigan University. A Wautoma, WI native, Josh and his wife Andria, a Mauston, WI native and  Associate Professor in the College of Health, Education, and Social Welfare at UWGB, are the parents of two boys, Brady and Kellen.

Mark Murphy Endowed Director of Athletics
UW-Green Bay and the Green Bay Packers announced Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024 that the Packers are making a leading gift to establish and endow the Mark Murphy Director of Athletics position at the University. The gift connects and honors two aspects of Murphy's professional life. Prior to joining the Packers as President in 2007, Murphy had a long career in college athletics, serving as the Director of Athletics at Colgate University from 1992-2003 and Northwestern University from 2003-07. During his time in Green Bay, Murphy has been a vocal supporter of UW-Green Bay, serving on the Council of Trustees and participating in fundraising and promotional activities to benefit the university. Moon will become the first 'Mark Murphy Endowed Director of Athletics', effective immediately.