Future of Michigan Football Rests in the Coaching Choices of Sherrone Moore
The exodus continues for Michigan football, and one thing is perfectly clear: this program is now entirely in the hands of Sherrone Moore. The Wolverines will undoubtedly rise or fall based on the personnel decisions that coach Moore makes in the coming weeks.
Jim Harbaugh did him no favors by poaching nearly all of the top assistants who may have remained behind to help continue the recent successes this program has enjoyed in the past three years. The list of departures is as long as it is potentially disheartening and includes head coach Jim Harbaugh, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, strength coach Ben Herbert, special teams coach Jay Harbaugh, and defensive line coach Mike Elston.
Despite all of the staff that’s been lost, the fact of the matter is that very soon the fans of Michigan football will know exactly what kind of a coach they have in Sherrone Moore. We know that he can call plays, scheme the offense, and motivate his guys to win big games under pressure. But his test now will be to lay the foundations for long term future success by doing the dirty work in the offseason that Jim Harbaugh excelled at: bringing in top tier assistants to facilitate all aspects of the team that the head coach cannot micromanage, keeping the overall cohesion of staff, the team, and recruits, and putting his own unique stamp on the program that will come to define it during his tenure.
Michigan football's Sherrone Moore has a difficult task ahead of him
All that being said, Coach Moore has an extremely difficult task in front of him. That would have been the case even if Jim Harbaugh had been the only member of the staff to leave. To lose basically an entire defensive staff is devastating there simply is no way around that fact. But if there is one thing that the Jim Harbaugh chapter of Michigan football taught us it is that winning traditions take time and patience to develop. For Coach Moore the lesson is that he should not be afraid to survive and adapt if adversity presents itself, just as Jim did after the disastrous 2020 Covid year debacle.
Coach Moore’s preferences so far have been clear: promote from within wherever possible. That includes elevations of Kirk Campbell to offensive coordinator and Grant Newsome as the offensive line coach. The defense remains to be worked out, but with the cupboard so bare it makes elevating a coach already on the team very difficult, especially with the future of Steve Clinkscale in question as it looks like he, too, may be departing as well.
If Sherrone Moore succeeds in 2024 there won’t be any question as to whether that success was a fluke due to the system that was put in place by the previous coach (as has been the case with past Michigan hires), because that system has been dismantled and moved to Los Angeles.
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No, if Michigan football does well in 2024 it will be because Sherrone Moore has demonstrated that he learned the lessons Coach Harbaugh imparted and created his own system and program from the ground up that not only replicates the Wolverine ethos and commitment to success but builds upon it.
Sherrone Moore, your time is now.