sherrone moore
[Patrick Barron]

Sherrone Moore Hired As Michigan Head Football Coach Comment Count

Alex.Drain January 26th, 2024 at 7:44 PM

In the least surprising move of all time, Michigan Football has officially named the successor to Jim Harbaugh: 

Moore, a native of Derby, Kansas, played college football as a guard at Oklahoma University after a stint at Butler Community College. He graduated from OU in 2008 and joined Louisville in 2009 as a graduate assistant for the football team. Moore stayed at Louisville into the tenure of Charlie Strong, being elevated to tight ends coach in 2012. Strong's 2012 and 2013 teams were highly successful but Strong took a promotion to Texas after that, which is when Moore made his move to the State of Michigan. Moore joined Central Michigan's staff in 2014 as tight ends coach under Dan Enos and he would be retained by head coach John Bonamego, who took over for the departed Enos in 2015. Moore was eventually elevated to Assistant Head Coach in 2017, when the Chips went 8-5. 

Jim Harbaugh hired Moore in the 2017-18 offseason, when he was reshuffling the offensive staff after the firing of Tim Drevno and Greg Frey. Ed Warriner took over the OL duties, which Drevno/Frey shared, while Moore took over tight ends, which was Frey's sole domain on the 2017 team. Moore stayed on Michigan's staff through the disastrous 2020 season as TE coach, before shifting to OL in 2021 after Warinner was not retained. During his three seasons as OL coach, Moore's offensive lines won the Joe Moore Award for the nation's best OL twice. Moore shared offensive coordinator duties in 2021 with Josh Gattis and 2022 with Matt Weiss. After Weiss' mysterious firing under a shroud of scandal, Moore was given sole OC duties for the 2023 season, in addition to OL responsibilities. 

Harbaugh's dual suspensions in 2023 allowed Moore to see his stature within the program grow. He was the interim head coach for the Bowling Green game in September and then was chosen over Mike Hart, Jesse Minter, and Jay Harbaugh to be the team's interim coach for the crucial three game stretch in November when Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the SignGate scandal. Moore went 4-0 in his games as interim head coach, delivering wins over ranked PSU and OSU, which served as his audition for the job. The passionate Moore passed with flying colors in leading the Maize & Blue to victories and at age 37, he seemed to be the obvious long term answer for the program when Harbaugh departed. 

Anecdotal reporting from insiders had suggested that Michigan was notifying recruits for some time that Moore was the coach in waiting should Harbaugh ever not be around. With Harbaugh taking the job with the LA Chargers, all eyes turned to Moore. It didn't take long, as there was broad consensus among fellow coaches and players that Moore was the guy for the gig. He has been an integral part of Michigan's 2020s football turnaround as a culture builder and has proven himself to be one of the staff's best recruiters. Whether that can pay dividends on the recruiting trail remains to be seen, but there is certainly upside in hiring a young, charismatic coach. 

Moore's contract is reported to be five years, $5.5 M per season and he is the first Black (full-time) Head Coach in University of Michigan Football history. The first order of business for Moore will be filling out the rest of his staff, as there is already a vacancy at LB coach due to the fired Chris Partridge, and ones will likely be opening at DC (Jesse Minter presumed to go to LA), special teams (ditto for Jay Harbaugh), OL (himself), and OC (also himself). There have also been rumblings about a possible Mike Hart departure at RB coach, so stay tuned on that front. Hiring quality assistant coaches is a vital part of the responsibility of being a successful head coach in modern football and thus, the hiring Moore does in the near future will be fascinating to watch. 

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Comments

lou apo

January 26th, 2024 at 11:35 PM ^

The big question. . . is he a CEO?  So much of being a head coach isn't about the x's and o's of football, but the management of the business of running a football program.  I don't know that he has ever had to do that.

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BuddhaBlue

January 26th, 2024 at 11:57 PM ^

when Jim left I wasn’t super sure how I felt about this impending move. But I just read the headline and instinctively let out a wooo!!

Let’s keep it going, Coach Moore! 

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kehnonymous

January 27th, 2024 at 1:38 AM ^

Moore will have to learn the finer points of the CEO part of being head coach and do it fast, but the most important quality you can have as a head coach is getting buy-in from your players.  Without that, you have nothing, and Moore indisputably has that.  That’s the main difference between Dan Campbell and Matt Patricia, and that’s why Sherrone is the natural choice.  He will have to master hiring and delegating, but he’s got everyone rowing in the same direction and that’s huge right out of the gate.

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jdemille9

January 27th, 2024 at 8:30 AM ^

Agreed. And we should find out a lot about his hiring philosophy pretty soon as he's got a few coaching vacancies to fill. 

Normally I am fine with internal hires for OC/DC roles but with a brand new HC I am not sure I still feel that way. Kirk Campbell to OC with Moore still there for guidance probably works out better than an internal DC hire, but I also wanna keep guys like Clink and Elston on staff. 

 

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BlueHills

January 27th, 2024 at 3:42 AM ^

I think there's a good chance Harbaugh had a strategy in place for the succession and implemented it.

He knew none of the current crop of hot coaches would wait around forever to find out whether the Michigan job was open. By dragging out the announcement re: the NFL, Michigan was off the table, and the most desirable HC candidates struck deals with other schools while the iron was hot.

When JH finally made his decision clear, and the hot hand HCs were gone, the only sensible decision left to Michigan was to promote Coach Moore.

The usual Michigan slow-decision-by-committee that wastes time and lets candidates slip through the net didn't happen - there wasn't time for the school to screw the pooch.

It was fait accompli.

In retrospect, in the televised Crisler celebration, Harbaugh's hesitancy, body language and facial expression did the talking - he was far more aloof than usual. I let myself think he was just uncomfortable with the expressions of the desire that he return, but I was looking through Blue colored glasses.

I don't know if it's possible to re-watch that footage, but I think if it is, you'll see it.

Harbaugh knew he was gone then. JJ couldn't pull off a convincing, "I'm still deciding," either. 

Incidentally, I'm happy that Michigan was put in the position where Moore was the only good choice, because he earned the job and showed he can handle it.

In a way this is a transition year for the team, lots of guys graduating or going to the NFL, new HC, no QB heir apparent, and a tough schedule that includes Texas in Week Two, and the West Coast teams. So I hope the fanbase can be patient and wait a few weeks at least to sharpen the knives.

 

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Hensons Mobile…

January 27th, 2024 at 7:18 AM ^

J.J. McCarthy obviously knew he was leaving at the Crisler ceremony. He pretty well telegraphed it at the ceremony and announced it the next day.

Everybody knew by the championship game that Harbaugh was going to listen to NFL offers while negotiating with Michigan. I guess different people had different beliefs about how serious he was about one or the other, but it seems pretty straightforward that he would take an NFL opportunity if he got one he liked, and otherwise Michigan was always available if he didn't.

He was only able to move as quickly as the NFL was. Harbaugh had very little control over the timing. Harbaugh also had no idea Saban was going to retire, although that announcement did come before the Crisler ceremony. Without Saban's retirement, though, both DeBoer and Fisch would have been the only other candidates. And there was no way for him to anticipate either of them moving even after Saban's retirement.

Yes, Harbaugh supported Moore as his successor at Michigan. No, he did not manipulate the situation at all. Not even a little bit.

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BlueHills

January 27th, 2024 at 10:28 AM ^

Can't argue with the logic of your post, it makes sense.

I do think that Harbaugh's agent knew how significant the Chargers' interest was prior to the official interview period post-NFL season.

And Harbaugh made a point of prepping the ground by saying Moore was ready for a head coaching position.

But yeah, I could be reading too much into it.

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MFanWM

January 27th, 2024 at 9:17 AM ^

Will be an interesting transition - but injecting some youth and fire into the coaching ranks is honestly a great thing to see. 

OSU is definitely jumping even further into the - we can out SEC the SEC - with NIL inducements to recruit and tamper with players try to right the ship in Columbus, so getting the coaching selections right is a critical step now.

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DiploMan

January 27th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^

Hopefully this will help dampen the Manuel-hates-Harbaugh blather now that it’s clear they agree (and likely agreed for some time in advance) on what the transition should look like. 

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AlbanyBlue

January 27th, 2024 at 11:42 AM ^

Now that Sherrone is the man, I am 100% behind him. I have concerns about experience, etc. but we'll see how it goes. Sherrone performed well under the highest of pressures, and he deserves the shot. 

Let's keep the staff and players together and get to work. Culture and continuity is what we need right now.

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