The Coach Moore era has officially begun in Ann Arbor.
Michigan football sent head coach Sherrone Moore, running back Donovan Edwards, safety Makari Paige, and tight end/fullback Max Bredeson to the 2024 Football Media Days in Indianapolis. Each took turns speaking to the media to review last year’s championship run and preview their 2024 title defense.
These days, almost everyone involved in this event is properly media-trained. Attendees know how to speak diplomatically, what questions to avoid, and what information stays private vs. public. The result tends to be a healthy dose of ‘coachspeak’ with platitudes about putting in the work and not paying attention to the media. Nonetheless, there’s particular intrigue for Michigan football as fans and foes get a first glance at how Coach Moore and his team respond to the media blitz.
So, what can we glean from the defending champs’ recently promoted head honcho? Let’s dig in.
Opening Statements
Coach Moore enters the 2024 college football season with a 4-0 record as acting head coach. Per his opening statements, however, it seems he’d prefer to think of himself as 0-0. A clean slate means increased motivation to prepare Team 145 to receive the baton from their forebears. Coach Moore ran through the team’s lofty goals for the season – beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten, and winning a national title. Steady as she goes. He also described the team as tough, smart, dependable, relentless, enthusiastic, and together. Multiple times he alluded to maintaining their process. As he concluded opening remarks he gave a nod to Coach Harbaugh, saying they will follow that process “with contagious enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”
The assembled media began to lobby questions with a few main themes – namely, how do you defend a national title? How do you replace the talent and production you’ve lost? Who steps into JJ McCarthy’s vacated quarterbacking shoes?
The Offensive Line
Michigan loses six starters/contributors from last year’s offensive line. Zak Zinter, Trevor Keegan, Drake Nugent, and Karsen Barnhart are in the NFL. The Houston Texans recently waived LaDarius Henderson due to injury, but he’ll have a shot to find his way back onto a roster once healthy. Trente Jones signed a UDFA contract with the Packers but subsequently retired from football. The point is: that there are quite a few big bodies to replace.
When asked keeps him up at night with respect to reforming an offensive line, Coach Moore responded:
“The thing that keeps me awake at night the most is my 4-year-old daughter kicking me in my back, but besides that, just making sure that our culture, that our alignment stays the same.”
He shouted out former tight ends coach and current offensive line coach Grant Newsome, a rising star in the coaching tree whose acuity and acumen have been praised since his playing days as Michigan’s left tackle. Coach Moore was himself an offensive lineman, and the prevailing thought seems to be: it’s not a rebuild, it’s a reload.
“Being the head coach, obviously having the offensive line background, I’m going to take a lot of pride in making sure that line is ready to go when we hit Game one”
The Quarterback Competition
How about the quarterbacks? Is anyone standing out among Alex Orji, Jack Tuttle, and Davis Warren? The short answer is: not yet. The coach was again diplomatic, citing that each has attributes to be successful and that they will decide once they feel they have a playmaker under center who will make the correct decisions with the ball.
Will there be a timeline for naming a quarterback? In 2022, Jim Harbaugh’s competition between JJ McCarthy and Cade McNamara bled into the regular season. Is there a chance we’ll see that again?
“I think the ideal timeline is when we feel like we’ve got the guy that’s going to help us win,” said Coach Moore. A bit of a non-answer, but the right answer is to encourage competition as fall camp commences. Coach Moore also shouted out offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell as “a phenomenal, phenomenal coach” who will make a great decision for the offense.
The Coaching Staff
Coach Moore talked through the care he took in selecting his coaching staff, particularly as a first-time head coach.
“Some happened a little faster than others. I feel like we got the right mix, right group of people to lead our program. Number one, they had to be great people, then great teachers, and people that cared about our student-athletes in a great way, and I feel like we got that with all our staff members.”
Moore’s selected coaches are a mix of up-and-comers like Newsome and special teams coordinator J.B. Brown alongside seasoned veterans like new defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale and linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary. The combination of experience, wisdom, and vigor seems to have resonated with players. How about hiring running backs coach Tony Alford plus new Director of Operations Erin Dunston away from Ohio State? “Talk about two outstanding individuals…well-rounded, well-educated, well-trusted people,” Moore said. Always nice to pry fine folks like that from the clutches of a despised rival.
Coach Moore did not shy away from a question about being a black head coach:
“I’d like to thank Warde Manuel [and] President Ono for the opportunity to be the head coach at Michigan. It’s a humble blessing, first African American head coach at Michigan. It’s a blessing. I think it’s awesome. But it also shows that every young man, regardless of the color of your skin, wherever you’re from, you can do whatever you want. Don’t allow people to tell you that you can’t do something. If you want to go do it, go take the opportunity and strive to be great.”
Making It Yours
Sherrone Moore has gone from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator to head coach. What adjustments is he making after a program-defining 2023 season under the previous regime?
“The number one thing I did is bringing the right staff, bringing the right people around our players. I’ve got to be a better delegator, and I think I’ve tried to do that as fast as I can. But for me, it’s leaning on those mentors that I’ve had in the past, those people like Coach Harbaugh, talking to him, understanding how he built this program, and being blessed enough to be here for the last six years. It’s been phenomenal for me. For me now, it’s putting my own flavor on it, but not changing too much because obviously there’s a lot of things that worked. Anything we can do to get better every single day, we’re going to try to do.”
(Bolded emphasis is my own).
Coach Moore understands Jim Harbaugh’s legacy and the indelible imprint he leaves on the program. Moore also understands his role in building that legacy, having been with the team since 2018. He is intent on maintaining Michigan’s pillars of success – the culture, the work ethic, the high-character recruits – while also forging his own path. He has modernized the recruiting department and its support staff – something Harbaugh tended to disregard during the back half of his tenure. Alongside new men’s basketball coach Dusty May, he has emphasized NIL fundraising to keep players in school against the growing allure of the transfer portal.
In all, it was a solid Media Day debut for Michigan’s new headman. Time will tell if he’s able to deliver on the promise of continued excellence for the Wolverines.
