Moore Says He "Probably" *Won't* Call Plays
January 27th, 2024 at 9:36 PM ^
That's good as HC, IMO.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:23 PM ^
Probably thinking he might get a rhythm of calling 9 lineman and running plays might hurt his receivers recruiting. 🤣
January 27th, 2024 at 11:59 PM ^
especially a first time HC
SMASH ball with Orji, 2 RBs, 2 TEs, 6 OL
Like 2nd half vs PSU but for an entire year
January 28th, 2024 at 8:09 AM ^
I mean time is a flat circle right? Isn’t the next logical offensive evolution going back to the triple option out of the Wishbone?
January 28th, 2024 at 8:24 AM ^
Before you know it, we’ll be running the wing T
January 28th, 2024 at 10:01 AM ^
I mean we joke, but the first team to master it will face utterly clueless defenses for at least a couple years before they start to adapt. I'm sure the Bentley has some of Yost's and Crisler's old playbooks.
January 27th, 2024 at 9:37 PM ^
All signs point to Campbell. But I'd love to see us go with co-OCs and co-DCs. Retains as many guys as possible (including Hart) and justify the pay bumps with the "co" in the title.
Obviously on offense, I'd love to see Campbell and Hart.
Campbell call the plays on game day (like Minter did on defense). Hart help lead game planning and provide feedback (like Clink does on defense).
On defense, I still like Zach Orr and Clink.
January 27th, 2024 at 9:45 PM ^
- Head Coach: Sherrone Moore
- QBs / Co-OC / Passing Game Coordinator: Kirk Campbell
- RBs / Co-OC / Running Game Coordinator / Assoc. Head Coach: Mike Hart
- WRs: Ron Bellamy
- TEs / Co-Special Teams: Grant Newsome
- OL: Kurt Anderson (former Northwestern)
- Co-DC / Asst. Head Coach: Zachary Orr
- Co-DC / DBs: Steve Clinkscale
- DL / Recruiting Coordinator: Mike Elston
- LBs / Co-Special Teams: Roy Manning (former USC)
- Ss: Aazaar Abdul-Rahim (Boston College)
*** "Co" everything, lets get these guys paid! ***
January 27th, 2024 at 9:53 PM ^
Moore might not fully “call the plays” but I expect he will have a ton of influence particularly in the run game. In 2015-17 we as a board never really looked at Drevno as the “OC” the same way we did Gattis, Moore, and Weiss. In fact we pretty much looked at the gameplan through what Jim and Jedd/Pep.
I think that’s the likely case if we go with Campbell and Hart.
January 28th, 2024 at 12:21 AM ^
Omg Pep! There's a name I could have gone my whole life without ever thinking of again. Wow, the coaching staff in the '20s is WAY better than what Harbaugh had in his first 5 years. Damn.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:30 PM ^
Jedd would like a word with you.
January 28th, 2024 at 11:33 PM ^
Jedd’s offense was ripped apart by osu. So predictable
January 28th, 2024 at 12:01 AM ^
Agree. But I think Newsome is "high potential" "fast riser" and is ready to take on OL, with Moore in support of course. We WANT Moore being involved with the OL forever.
OL should continue our offensive strength.
January 28th, 2024 at 7:56 AM ^
My thought as well - Newsome gets the OL because he's earned it. The TE's have been pretty good, and the guy was starting at LT on a playoff-good 2016 team as a FRESHMAN! He knows how to play the game...
January 28th, 2024 at 3:46 PM ^
Sophomore in 2016 but did start a game against Minnesota his freshman year so same thing
January 27th, 2024 at 9:57 PM ^
I’m not convinced that retaining as many coaches as possible is the way to go. Moore needs to put his own stamp on the program, not just automatically promote all of Harbaughs staff. My bet is Mike Hart will be gone.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:04 PM ^
Agree, its unlikely all the best fits for OC, DC, ST, RB and HC are already on staff. Need some fresh perspective, because the game evolves and teams evolve every year
January 28th, 2024 at 2:37 PM ^
Its Moore's final decision and I back him on whatever he does. But if your resume is being part of this Id find it hard to beat.
-Went toe-to-toe with Bama, OSU and the rest of the football world and the players ive been coaching/developing came out on top!
-Was part of a staff that turned a 9-8 program (previous 2 seasons before I got here) into a 40-3 program.
-Part of the staff that beat OSU 3x
-Part of the staff that won the Big Ten championship 3x
-Part of the staff that went to the playoffs 3x
-Part of the staff that beat Penn St, OSU, Bama, and Washington on our way to a National Championship. Half of those without our Head coach on the sidelines.
Id be open to see the other resumes and how they compare.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
I'm feeling a little pessimistic about Hart -- until we see or hear from him in some capacity
Also slightly pessimistic about Clink, after he put an odd "mood" middle finger video on his Instagram story. Maybe it was unrelated, but we haven't seen or heard from him either. He's had weird social media nothingburgers in the past (like when he wiped his Twitter).
Campbell seems guaranteed, he's been everywhere in person and on social media. As has Newsome. Elston showed support on Twitter and seems like a college football lifer, so I think we're good there.
Herbert is a wildcard. "Insiders" seem to be optimistic. My guess is he's torn bc he likes/respects Harbaugh, but knows he basically has permanent position at Michigan as long as he wants it. I think he'll stay bc the relationship with players isn't the same in the NFL.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:29 PM ^
Haven't had this level of uncertainty in the coaching staff since after both 2020 and 2021, now I'm starting to worry
wait
January 27th, 2024 at 10:44 PM ^
2 years is actually good for a major CFB team.
January 28th, 2024 at 12:31 AM ^
OSU got a high four star OT from Toledo today. We had a hat on the table…maybe Clink was reacting to that? Doubtful but that would be better than the current speculation.
January 28th, 2024 at 6:42 AM ^
Definitely not reacting to that. Everyone knew lowe was choosing osu and its not much of a loss. Slow, soft and will likely transfer to Toledo at some point.
January 28th, 2024 at 5:42 AM ^
I think Herbert stays. NFL strength coaches make less and most players use their own personal trainers and NFL coaches are expected to see that each player is following someone else's plan
January 28th, 2024 at 12:08 PM ^
I think he may stay as his salary just got bumped to $1 million per year from $600k, and for a S&C coach I'm guessing that has to be in the top echelon.
Just saw this on 24/7....
An agent source informed me tonight that the highest paid strength coach in the National Football League makes $755,000. Herbert makes $1 million per season at Michigan. That means Harbaugh would have to pay Herbert upwards $1.3 million per year to account for the cost-of-living adjustment in Los Angeles.
January 28th, 2024 at 10:07 AM ^
I understand Harbaugh wanting the best coaches on his NFL staff, and Michigan's 2023 coaches are amongst the best in college or NFL. I can see why he wants and is getting Minter. But I hope he is encouraging the other assistants, including Herbert, to stay to help promote the succession and passing of the torch that he's talked about. I hope he's not actively recruiting additional coaches away from Michigan to join him.
January 28th, 2024 at 12:25 AM ^
Look, it doesn't take a genius to know that every organization thrives when it has two leaders. Go ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains. Where would Catholicism be without the popes?
January 28th, 2024 at 12:55 AM ^
At Benedict's funeral?
January 28th, 2024 at 7:36 AM ^
too soon bro
January 27th, 2024 at 9:37 PM ^
Someone to come in and let Jayden Davis eat !!!
January 27th, 2024 at 9:47 PM ^
Gotta recruit him some WRs first
January 27th, 2024 at 9:44 PM ^
I think Moore will do well. Finding the right coordinator is key and glad he is taking the HC job as CEO job. He can coordinate the offense during the week but letting people around do their thing is important.
Even Harbaugh took years before he got it right with coordinators. I expect growing pains for him but anticipate a positive trajectory to come sooner for him because of what Harbaugh left for him.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:10 AM ^
"Even Harbaugh took years before he got it right with coordinators."
This is a great point that rarely gets touched on. Harbaugh had a time getting the players, recruits, staff, and schemes all on the same page. Jedd was excellent - did what he could with the players he had. Pep brought an offense that the WR's and QB weren't suited for, and he couldn't teach it. And because Michigan is not, ahem, 'WR U', he couldn't get the players he needed. Drevno was out of his league an as OC and had no idea what to do or who to recruit. Gattis was, well, snake oil gets everyone at some point. That time was Harbaugh's turn to get bit.
Every time you change coaches and (more importantly) schemes, you need different player skillsets at most positions. Which means you need to change who you're recruiting. Every hire is a crap shoot - some work out and some don't. And you don't know which it'll be until some time goes by. Harbaugh changed things up like crazy until he found a working formula in 2021. The key is finding the guy that requires the least change for the lowest amount of risk going forward.
Lets give Sherrone a few years to sort it all out, and hope he doesn't need that long! Here's to Sherrone never getting 'Gattis'd'!!
January 28th, 2024 at 9:22 AM ^
Fisch was good as OC, and it was amazing to see how many new plays the team ran well from week to week. Durkin was good as DC, until injuries (Ojemudia and R. Glasgow) set back the D-line and he had a foot out the door at the end of the season. Brown's onfield schemes did very well during his first couple of years as DC, but after that he was unable to limit big plays by tOSU's WRs and his interior D-line recruiting was atrocious.
January 27th, 2024 at 9:44 PM ^
Too much else on a new Michigan head coach's plate, I think it's smart and shows really promising humility.
edit- unrelated, anyone know if "new coach smell" helping recruiting applies when promoting the HC in waiting like this?
January 27th, 2024 at 9:54 PM ^
And coming off a title with the title winning coach leaving? Usually new coach smell is like at MSU. Look, we got rid of the stinky loser, now we have a new coach who will get things going in the right direction.
There's no bump with this. The best to hope for is to maintain, which was the whole point of sticking with Moore. Otherwise there would have been serious attrition from both the team and the recruits.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:06 PM ^
I hope he can improve recruiting, or at least maintain whatever voodoo we've been using to identify underrated players. Because even if he's 90% as good as Harbaugh as a HC, that probably won't be enough to keep winning like we have.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:15 PM ^
I had been of the opinion that "if it ain't broke don't fix it" with the NIL for football, but that was with Harbaugh. I think getting that fixed should be a priority for Sherrone, unless he was the one who was finding all the diamonds in the rough.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:27 PM ^
It'll be interesting to see the recruiting effect. Harbaugh seemed like a fine but not elite recruiter, whose best attribute (honesty) also meant that for the last three years recruits have been told that they can't count on him staying, while Moore will. I'm told Sherrone is a good recruiter, and given that the program is in a strong place, perhaps we'll see a good first-year bump in a few places.
But, obviously, the big questions in today's meta are how Michigan navigates NIL, and whether Michigan can continue its elite "scout-and-develop" strategy that has worked sustainably well but sort of counts on being better than the rest of the college football world at it to work.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:25 AM ^
What does fixing NIL mean, short of resorting to improper inducement pay-for-play?
January 28th, 2024 at 2:47 PM ^
I had been of the opinion that "if it ain't broke don't fix it" with the NIL
Thought I caught Warde's burner account for a second HM. Good follow up on the second half of your post!
January 28th, 2024 at 8:24 AM ^
Improve recruiting...
I see this everywhere, from almost everyone. JFC - we just won the National Championship with arguably the best roster in all of college football! The MONSTER on the field this year was Michigan. Short of an experienced QB and a stud in the WR room (which UM almost never has anyway), the returning roster is still stacked to the point of being a favorite next year save for Harbaugh returning. As for NIL, every player on the team seems to making a decent paycheck - they're all happy, anyway.
So are recruiting and NIL really 'broken'? Hell no!!! The ask here is pay for play money up front to bring in more 5-stars. But that is not the NIL program that Harbaugh wanted - we heard him say that a lot. Maybe Sherrone will add some money to the 5-starz fund? Perhaps he won't have the institutional horsepower as a rookie coach new hire to force that change?
Personally, I'd like to see a little more emphasis on an ability to bring in someone like Underwood. Yet, at the same time, I don't want this team buying mercenaries like Underwood looking for the biggest paycheck, either.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:50 PM ^
A basic "welcome to Michigan" compensation package for all non-diamond in the rough recruits. This would be for players vetted and highly coveted by our coaching staff. These kids are going to be playing in front of a $100mil a year audience. Enough with this budget football BS. I dont need 7 more administration buddy hires making $250,000 a year to balance the books.
January 27th, 2024 at 9:59 PM ^
Please hire a proven OC, Sherrone.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:08 PM ^
Yes, this *is* interesting, because if he has a pretty good idea who will, it means he has a pretty good idea what his offensive staff looks like. Which means, unless he is finishing up the hiring process with someone with zero rumors whatsoever, he plans to elevate from within.
So he'll probably have sort of a committee-type approach like Harbaugh did with Fisch and Drev, providing significant levels of gameplan design but delegating the actual "calling plays" bit during gameday, which makes a lot of sense.
Others have mentioned Campbell and there is sense to that. He might plan to hire someone from outside that can supplement some of this work, but if he thinks he knows who the playcaller is, he's not looking for someone that will run the show on his own.
Might mean that there's a greater chance they hire a DC from outside, but I don't know.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
It just means it's Campbell. Or maybe somehow it's Hart, or it's Campbell and Hart, but there's been smoke about Hart not staying. Or it's JayBaugh, who (unlike Minter) hasn't announced he's leaving, but again, that would be a big shock since everyone assumes he's going to LA.
Not sure what this has to do with the DC. Did you mean because we're going to have an inexperienced OC that he would get an experienced DC who can help him with his HC duties? I'm not so sure about that.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:23 PM ^
No, I'm more speculating that there will be a smaller number of new hires on the offensive side, and there will be money available and a lot of space to fill on the defensive side, and there's less of a solid braintrust left in place--the old OC is still on Michigan's staff, while the old DC is not.
But it's all just guesswork. If Michigan makes any kind of big staff hire, it would be defensive.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:35 PM ^
I see. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Clink and/or Elston become DC to try to ensure we're using the same scheme next year. The players are good enough and veteran enough that it seems to me they could still operate at a high level with that. I feel like the only thing that could mess it up is bringing in a DC who isn't from the Ravens (or current Michigan) family and wants to install something totally new, or tries to run the same scheme without understanding it.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:48 PM ^
I feel like the only thing that could mess it up is bringing in a DC who isn't from the Ravens (or current Michigan) family and wants to install something totally new, or tries to run the same scheme without understanding it.
I guess I could see this being seen as a necessity if there really wasn't someone capable of running the current defense available (we have no idea if Clink or Elston can be that guy), but I completely agree. Michigan just won the national title with the defensive equivalent of running the Wishbone in 1970 or the West Coast offense in 1988 or QB run spread in 2008. We're at the head of the curve we have elite players that know it, insanity to change schemes now.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:06 AM ^
I like JayBaugh, and by all accounts he seems to be a good, rising young coach. But at some point you really need to work for someone other than daddy to be taken seriously, I think. I think he has shown that he's not just a nepo hire (cough ferentz cough) but, jeez, if you just follow dad around...