INDIANAPOLIS — At first glance, Sherrone Moore seems a rather fortunate fellow.
The 38-year-old slid into his first head-coaching job at Michigan 18 days after the Wolverines won a national title and affirmed their status as one of the best programs in the college ranks. Jim Harbaugh’s decision to bolt for the NFL in the championship afterglow this past January presented Moore with the rarest of opportunities at a place he had come to love over six years as a prized assistant.
He didn’t have to go to some Group of Five outpost to prove himself in a leading role. Instead, he could stay put at a powerhouse where he wouldn’t even have to change much. The systems were already in place. The culture was, too. The roster was still packed with major playmakers — from elite cornerback Will Johnson to dynamic tight end Colston Loveland to heavyweight defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
As Moore saw it, the Wolverines weren’t going anywhere; they would still be in the hunt for the sport’s biggest prize.
“We’re not going to stray away from the goal of trying to win it all every year,” Moore said Thursday at Big Ten media days. “When you’re at Michigan, that should be your goal.”
At the very least, that has now become the expectation of the Wolverines’ demanding fanbase.
This is the burden Moore inherited, which has left some wondering whether he is that lucky of a guy after all.
The spotlight on Moore figures to be harsh as he aims to replicate what Harbaugh just accomplished. Skeptics are already on the lookout for the first slip-up or an initial warning sign that indicates some level of regression within the program he helped Harbaugh nurture. They are, in essence, waiting for him to stumble on the biggest stage and reveal his vulnerabilities.
The possibility of that happening certainly exists, considering Moore’s path is littered with obstacles that are both concrete and abstract. After years of drawing criticism for laughably weak schedules, the Wolverines face a daunting slate of games, including matchups against Texas, USC, Washington, Oregon and Ohio State in the first year of an 18-team Big Ten. The Buckeyes, the hated adversary Moore and Harbaugh teamed up to beat each of the last three years, spent this past offseason plotting their revenge by augmenting a richly talented roster with a slew of coveted transfer additions.
The prevailing assumption among the college football cognoscenti is that, on the last day of November, Ohio State will regain control of a rivalry it dominated for the better part of this century. The rationale behind that belief is that Harbaugh, the man who engineered Michigan’s golden age, is now gone and so too is much of the firepower from an offense that not only kept pace with the high-octane Buckeyes but outgained them in two of the past three meetings.
There is a reason why two recent media polls picked Ohio State to win the conference and Michigan to finish third or fourth.
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“People are going to predict what they’re going to predict. People are going to say what they’re going to say,” Moore said.
Out of habit, he then absorbs all the slights, using them as fuel.
While speaking to a group of football campers at the National College Showcase at Wayne State in May, Moore opened a window into his defiant mindset that was previously reflected on the “Michigan vs. Everybody” shirt he wore last fall.
“Everybody is going to have haters," Moore told them. "Your haters are holding their breath for you to fail. Your job is to make their asses suffocate."
Moore, indubitably, sees that as his own personal duty, too.
“He says, ‘Let them talk,’” receiver Semaj Morgan said in late June. “But what we do on our end, it’s gonna kill ‘em.”
That is the plan inside Schembechler Hall, where Michigan launched its run to 40 victories in its past 43 games. That streak of success set an absurdly high standard that Moore will continue to try to meet. But he will aim to do so with an entirely new defensive staff and a reconfigured offense that has only one returning starter, as well as a glaring question mark at quarterback.
The difficulties of this plum job revealed themselves during Moore’s first few months in the big chair. Two staff members, including an assistant Moore had just hired, suddenly left Michigan after they were arrested in separate incidents for allegedly driving while intoxicated. The program, meanwhile, remained in the crosshairs of the NCAA, beginning a three-year probation stemming from an investigation into impermissible recruiting and coaching activities as it awaited the outcome of another probe into the sign-stealing scandal that reverberated last fall.
The turbulence Moore has already weathered, and the perceived challenges he is expected to encounter, led one reporter to suggest the new coach’s grace period should be extended through the end of 2024. Moore balked at the idea.
“There’s no honeymoon year,” Moore said. “We’re just ready to attack. All of my life, I have been a competitor. I’ve wanted to win, and I’ve tried to win everywhere I’ve been. There’s no time off. There’s no, ‘Oh, let’s take a step back.’ That’s not our goal.”
Instead, the objectives are the same as they ever were, Moore explained. Beat Ohio State. Win the Big Ten. Go to the College Football Playoff. Be the last team standing.
They are noble pursuits, and Maryland coach Mike Locksley believes Moore is prepared to tackle them.
“But he’s got to understand he’s going to have some failures that happen,” Locksley cautioned. “He’s gonna fall on his face.”
Most first-year coaches suffer that bitter fate off the beaten path, away from the limelight. Moore doesn’t have that luxury. He’s at Michigan, where the job of head coach is among the best in college football and also one of the most unforgiving.
It’s why some wonder if Moore, a most fortunate fellow, is also deserving of a little clemency as his regime gets off the ground. It's a strange reality for the man in charge of the reigning national champions.
ContactRainer Sabin atrsabin@freepress.com. Follow him@RainerSabin
