Sherrone Moore is not the best possible choice to lead the program, but under the circumstances he’s the best option. The NFL hiring process just plays out longer than college. Both DeBoer and Jedd Fisch would have been top candidates for this job, but they are both gone. Someone with a record of building a program will always be preferred over someone with no experience running their own program. It’s late in the process and Moore is their best option.
None of that is a knock against Moore. I hope it works out and he becomes a legend himself. We will just have to wait and see how it plays out. I have no doubt he will give this job everything he has in him.
Good signing if you ask me. Just hope he’s got the crying out of the way.
I think a lot of it is to keep the players that were going to stay, to stay. if you bring in someone from outside that has a completely different vision the transfer portal would light up.
Assuming nothing blows up in the next week, I’m very happy with Moore getting the job. I think in general you’re right about preferring somebody who’s built a program, but in this case, Moore is the right choice. No matter how great a guy is at building programs, when you bring in a new coach from outside, you’re pricing in a huge amount of disruption, usually at least 1-2 “rebuilding” years while the new coach installs his guys and system. You’re betting that the outcome in years 3-5 and beyond will make up for that disruption. But the reality is, most of the time it doesn’t, even with good coaches who’ve succeeded elsewhere.
Now with the portal and the modern approach to transfers, the price of that disruption is even higher. (See Alabama losing 30 guys within a couple weeks.) In this case, we don’t need Moore to build a program. We have a good program! We need him to maintain continuity and keep things firing on all cylinders, which is not easy, but IMO not nearly the undertaking as building a new program from scratch.
The big risks in this scenario are that Michigan will fall off in recruiting, player development, and game-day coaching. Recruiting, we’ll see. But I have zero questions about Moore’s ability to develop NFL-caliber linemen, understand the importance of Michigan’s rivalries, hold up under the spotlight, and call an excellent game in the highest-pressure situations. If it doesn’t work out? We can get the program-builder in a few years, when we have no other choice!
Timely tweet I just saw on Moore as a recruiter:
I’ll take a top-notch recruiter over just about any other skill set as a coach in CFB.
With the current transfer portal rules… recruiting really is the key.
It’s basically free agency every year. No player is guaranteed to be back the next season
Gotta be so stressful of a job.
I don’t disagree with you. I don’t see the coach out there where I’m like this guy is perfect. So why not give Moore a shot? What a legacy he has a chance to build.
…which is why he cried at Penn State, even though that will be used against him forever. It was the release of emotions after being thrown into a last minute situation with the weight of a championship season on his shoulders and winning. Once it sunk in, knowing Harbaugh gave that opportunity to him, it just all came out.
Sherrone Moore has been putting thought into how he wants to do this.
Michigan doesn’t need a experienced program builder right now. They need someone to keep driving the car in the same direction and at same speed or better. Moore is the right choice for right now. If he fails then hire the program builder because if he fails the program will need to be rebuilt.
The Michigan program is Jim Harbaugh. If you remove Jim Harbaugh it will not be the same program no matter who they hire. The college coach has complete and total control over their program. That is the only reason I say it’s nice to see a resume of someone’s ability to run their own program. Moore doesn’t have that. That doesn’t mean he will fail. It just means he steps in with more questions to answer. That’s all.