Replacing a championship coach is hard. But Sherrone Moore has to clean up Jim Harbaugh's mess, too.
It’s never easy replacing a championship coach. It’s harder still to replace a championship coach who leaves a complicated legacy. And when that coach leaves during NCAA investigations, as Jim Harbaugh did last winter?
Welcome to Sherrone Moore’s world.
Then again, Michigan football’s first-year head coach knew the world he was stepping into. Mostly because he spent the last six years on Harbaugh’s staff.
Still, to watch Moore answer almost as many questions about rule-breaking and optics as he did about football Tuesday afternoon inside Michigan's football complex was to watch a coach with a lot to navigate, most notably his predecessor’s long and messy shadow.
An old saying in coaching is that it’s better to replace the coach who replaces the legend than to replace the legend. But then it’s hard to say no when a program like Michigan offers to hand over the keys to its team, no matter the timing.
Under normal circumstances, replacing a title-winning coach usually means trying to meet title-worthy expectations. This is true for Moore. But this isn’t the only expectation. He’s got to find a way to win and keep the program out of headlines for reasons other than winning or losing.
In other words, Moore must balance keeping the best parts of the culture Harbaugh built within the locker room and on the field: player development, strategic adaptability, selflessness, and competitive spirit, while making sure everyone understands and follows the rules that govern Division 1 college football.
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This includes himself; Moore served a one-game, school-imposed suspension in last year’s season-opener for his role in Level II recruiting violations during the NCAA-mandated COVID-19 recruiting dead period in 2021. He could face another suspension this season, according to reports that suggest he deleted texts related to Connor Stalions; those texts were eventually retrieved and turned over to the NCAA.
Moore said Tuesday that he and the university are cooperating with the NCAA's investigation into alleged signal stealing. He also said "I look forward to (the texts) being released. That's it."
A former Michigan recruiter told NCAA investigators that Harbaugh’s culture was to push up against the line and then sometimes push past it. Harbaugh, of course, denies that he ever intentionally broke recruiting rules.
"I do not apologize," Harbaugh told reporters at the Los Angeles Chargers' headquarters last week.
As for the culture the former staffer questioned?
Moore said he couldn’t control what others said about the program. He also said this:
"When you're at the bottom they don't respect you. When you're in the middle, they ignore you, when you're at the top they hate you. So, for us, we're just going to keep rolling."
The hater angle is, of course, tiresome. Yes, plenty of college football fans “hate” Michigan football. And plenty of folks in this state, football fans or not, bristle at the “leaders and best” dogma that emanates from the campus ... or from those who’ve spent time on the campus.
In many ways, especially locally, Michigan is an easy target, though a phenomenon the school has helped along, obviously. But the “hate” isn’t just because the Wolverines won the title last season. And Moore knows that.
It’s because of the occasional piousness Harbaugh presented, the perceived hypocrisy. Wagging a finger at other “cheaters” while not keeping his own house in order.
Here’s betting university president Santa Ono and athletic director Warde Manuel don’t much care if Moore holds himself on high the way his former boss did. And here’s guessing they don’t much care if Moore – like Harbaugh – makes the school easier to ridicule for rival fans.
What they do – and should – care about is that Moore follows the rules and keeps the NCAA out of Ann Arbor. Sure, some minor infractions are going to happen. And if they do, Ono and Manuel could help Moore by encouraging him to self-report like so many other programs do.
It will also help Moore if the university shows a bit more transparency. For example, it turns out Harbaugh isn’t coming back for the season opener. He may one day serve as an honorary captain, just not when the Wolverines take the field against Fresno State in late August.
Harbaugh, according to a Free Press report, decided his current team needs him more, and he’ll be staying in California to give the Los Angeles Chargers his full attention. As coaching decisions go, that’s probably a smart one, the Chargers need help.
As public relations decisions go, that’s probably even smarter, though Harbaugh insisted – at least according to Moore – that his choice was all about football.
Maybe it was.
But whether it was, asking Moore to announce the news as he did Tuesday during his news conference wasn’t fair to Moore. The university has an athletic director, a sports communications office, a president’s office, and any of them could’ve released a simple news statement.
Yes, Moore may still have been asked about it. But he wouldn’t have been responsible for breaking the news. He’s got plenty else to worry about.
Let’s face it, the timing of Harbaugh’s return wasn’t good. One NCAA investigation meted out punishment last week (related to recruiting violations) and another NCAA investigation recently sent the school a “notice of allegations” regarding its alleged – and illegal – off-the-field scouting operation.
You can debate the merits of both cases and howl at the NCAA all you want, but this was indisputably Harbaugh’s program when both violations happened. To bring him back to Michigan Stadium so soon was a bad look. The school knew it. Harbaugh had to have known it.
Good for him for backing off. Moore’s job is complicated enough.
"Yesterday he called me and told me he didn't feel he could leave his team, in true coach Harbaugh fashion, and wanted to be in the fox hole with his team, not make it look like he's taking a deep long bow," Moore said. "So, he's not going to make it for the game, but we will have some of our (former players) guys who will be there and then Jack and Jackie Harbaugh are going to take his place, so super excited about that.”
No doubt he’s excited. He should be. He’s got one of the best jobs in college football, and a roster with some future pros.
Again, it’s not easy replacing a championship-winning coach. It’s even harder to clean up their mess. The easiest way to sweep up is, of course, to win. But winning should no longer be enough in Ann Arbor.
Harbaugh won. Yet so much of the college football world outside the state thinks he won while breaking the rules.
Moore’s job is to win, too, yes. It’s also to win in a way that helps recalibrate the perception of the program. The games start in a couple of weeks.
Contact Shawn Windsor: [email protected]. Follow him@shawnwindsor.