On December 17, 1974, two weeks after Don Fambrough resigned as KU head football coach, athletic director Clyde Walker named 35 year-old Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Robert Wayne “Bud” Moore to the job.
The Bear Bryant assistant had to delay fleshing out his coaching staff and the beginning of recruiting to return to Alabama to help coach the Tide in the 1975, New Year’s Day Orange Bowl.
On November 16, 1978, Moore was fired as head coach. Athletic director Bob Marcum, newly arrived the previous August announced that Moore would coach the season finale against Kansas State but that a change was coming.
Moore’s cumulative record at KU was 17-27-1 including his 1975 Sun Bowl loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers.