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Like Jim Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore will try to fight gravity. But his battle is tougher.
- Story by
- Like Jim Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore will try to fight gravity. But his battle is tougher.
It's hard to reach the top. It's even tougher to remain there.
The world is a fickle place, after all. What goes up must come down. As he neared the summit of college football, Jim Harbaugh wondered when his Wolverines would see the fall of their rising Big Ten empire.
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"The gravitational force of the Earth is tremendous," Harbaugh said in October. "The law of averages say it is going to catch up to you."
But it never did in the months ahead. Michigan football continued its ascent toward a national championship, climbing past numerous obstacles. There was the toxic residue from a cheating scandal that threatened to swallow the Wolverines. There was a backloaded schedule that could have stopped them in their tracks. There was the psychological burden from their recent postseason failures that still tugged at them.
Michigan overcame all of it, defying its loudest critics, its naysayers. and yes, even Newton's laws.
"Last one standing," Harbaugh crowed earlier this month after his team beat Washington , 34-13, to lift the trophy.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is lifted off the ground by offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore after Michigan won the College Football Playoff national championship game against Washington at NRG Stadium in Houston on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.
MORE FROM SABIN: Sherrone Moore has big shoes to fill for Michigan. But he has been there, done that.
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Harbaugh reveled in his glory, looking down at the rest of his fallen competition. Then, two weeks later, he bolted for the Los Angeles Chargers and a shot at a coveted Lombardi Trophy, leaving Ann Arbor before he could see his Wolverines slide backwards. He timed his own exit perfectly. In his rearview mirror were a pair of active NCAA investigations , a diminished roster in need of reinforcements, a daunting 2024 schedule , a deeper, mightier Big Ten, and a chaotic college landscape that will continually test Michigan's resolve to compete at the highest levels.
This is what is left behind for Harbaugh's 37-year-old successor and first-time head coach Sherrone Moore , who was elevated Friday from his role as offensive coordinator.
"Excited about the challenge," Moore said Saturday.
But it's a huge one.
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As one source who has been inside the program told the Free Press, "Michigan is a hard job in the new world."
It's even more demanding on the heels of Harbaugh's burst of success. His Wolverines won 40 of their final 43 games, three straight conference titles and the sport's greatest prize to cap a dizzying surge. In the process, he left Michigan's fussy fan base with the impression that the Wolverines are positioned to compete annually with Georgia, Ohio State , Alabama and the other perennial powers.
But it should be remembered Harbaugh didn't hit his stride until his seventh season in Ann Arbor. And when he did, he benefited from some unique circumstances that won't necessarily avail themselves to Moore. On the heels of the 2-4 season in 2020 that marked the nadir of his tenure, Harbaugh decided to dump Don Brown and his stubborn defensive scheme. He then tapped a resource that only he had at his disposal — his brother John, who ran the Baltimore Ravens . John loaned Jim one of his brightest young assistants, Mike Macdonald. During his one year in Ann Arbor, Macdonald installed the Ravens' system and helped spark a rebirth at Harbaugh's listing Michigan program. Macdonald then handed the keys to Jesse Minter, another former Baltimore staffer who made it even better.
Michigan Wolverines head football coach Sherrone Moore addresses the basketball crowd during a timeout against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.
By the end of Harbaugh's tenure, Michigan had the best defense in the country. It was the centerpiece of a championship team captained by a pair of savvy upperclassmen, All-American defensive back Mike Sainristil and sixth-year stalwart Michael Barrett. Both starters would not have been allowed to play this past season had they not been granted an extra year of eligibility through the COVID-19 blanket waiver offered to all players during the 2020 pandemic season. They were among the last remaining beneficiaries of the unprecedented ruling, and they bolstered a team that already boasted a talent-rich roster stocked with upperclassmen. Entering this past season, everyone inside Schembechler Hall felt the pressure to seize the moment.
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It was championship or bust , as star running back Blake Corum said. Beyond 2023, Michigan's outlook seemed hazy. The coaching staff braced for an impending exodus of talent when the calendar flipped to a new year. Harbaugh even hinted at it last summer, when he said that as many as 20 Wolverines could be drafted this April. But then the cold reality hit earlier this month, when, one by one, Michigan's top players left for the NFL. The celebration of the national title still reverberated as Corum, J.J. McCarthy , defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and the entire offensive line went out the door.
"We're not going to rebuild," Moore insisted. "We're gonna reload and we're going to continue to do that as we go."
But Moore will be hard-pressed to plug all those holes on his depth chart. Since its inception in October 2018, the transfer portal — college football's bustling marketplace — has been a restricted domain for the Wolverines. Because of admission roadblocks related to the acceptance of coursework from other universities, Michigan has struggled to import impact players from other college programs. During this cycle, the Wolverines have only landed two — Northwestern guard Josh Priebe and Maryland linebacker Jaishawn Barham. Michigan's entrance barriers could cause the football team to quickly lose its foothold at the top of a sport where players are constantly switching sides.
But athletic director Warde Manuel doesn't see the school compromising its academic standards.
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"It is who we are, and we will work through it like we always have," Manuel said.
Meanwhile, Ohio State is gathering assets to help overtake U-M after three straight losses to the Wolverines. The Buckeyes dipped into transfer marketplace to poach star safety Caleb Downs and top-rated freshman quarterback Julian Sayin from Alabama. They acquired another passer, Will Howard , from Kansas State before snatching one of the nation's best running backs, Quinshon Judkins of Ole Miss . Ohio State's aggressive moves reportedly have been funded by major NIL dollars that have climbed into the eight figures. There are questions about whether Michigan has the same arsenal of money cannons, or even the desire to load the ones it has.
"I don't want us talking about what we have to buy student-athletes and inducing student-athletes," Manuel said. "To me, NIL is about teaching kids how to use who they are for the rest of their lives. And, so for me, it's not a transactional thing."
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Manuel's stance doesn't surprise the Free Press source, who noted that Michigan seems reluctant to go all in with NIL because it doesn't align with the school's value system.
"That's not in their DNA," the person said.
Having spent the past six years at Michigan, Moore has come to grasp that. After they discussed the subject, Manuel got the impression Moore is "fully comfortable" with the current approach and the way Michigan operates in that space. Moore's familiarity with the idiosyncrasies that exist at U-M — from the transfer obstacles to the NIL philosophy to the campus culture — was a selling point as Manuel assessed Moore's candidacy. Manuel noted that Moore "understands us."
"I believe he will be very successful here," Manuel added.
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But whether he can keep Michigan near the top is the question. As he tries to take flight in his new role, so many forces are conspiring to pull him down: The burden of expectations Harbaugh left behind. The albatross of an unforgiving schedule in a conference now home to a few more heavyweights. The potential baggage from two active NCAA investigations. Michigan's self-imposed restraints.
Like Harbaugh, Moore is trying to fight gravity to maintain the program's lofty position.
"You've got to push," the new coach said. "You've got to strain. You've got to do that every single day."
But in the end, the laws of nature may still be too much to overcome. What goes up must come down. And as he starts his new job, the program he inherits sits at the top.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com . Follow him @RainerSabin .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sherrone Moore faces uphill battle to keep Michigan football on top
