Strong coached both Moore and linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary worked under Strong from 2010-13.
In Jan. 2024, the Michigan Wolverines named Sherrone Moore the head coach of the football program. Immediately, Moore got to work adding coaches to his staff, and one of the first names he called was a familiar face — linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary.
At first glance, this seemed like a slam dunk hire because of Jean-Mary’s first stint in Ann Arbor in 2020. A second opportunity in Ann Arbor after a three-year stop with the Tennessee Volunteers made a lot of sense.
In reality, the relationship between Moore and Jean-Mary goes much deeper. It goes back to the Big East Conference and the rebuild of the Louisville Cardinals under head coach Charlie Strong. Strong took over in 2009 following a 4-8 season, and when he left in 2013, the Cardinals had back-to-back double-digit winning seasons and a Sugar Bowl victory over Florida. At the same time, Moore was promoted from graduate assistant to tight ends coach, while Jean-Mary led the linebackers on a top-ranked Louisville defense.
Speaking recently with Maize n Brew, Strong detailed the “great” coaching staff he had back then, and the chemistry those coaches had.
“There were some great guys that worked together,” Strong said. “Sherrone was on the staff, Brian-Jean Mary, Clint Hurtt — who just went to Philadelphia — and my offensive coordinator is the head coach at Wofford now, Sean Watson. So we had some good coaches on that coaching staff, and the guys worked together and they got along together. It’s all about chemistry within your staff. You just look for guys that you can build up with because the key thing is you have to be able to work together. If you are able to work together, then everything else will fall in place for you.”
Strong was the first coach to ever give Moore a full-time coaching gig when he promoted him to tight ends coach. He first came across Moore when Strong was the defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators. The Gators beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2009 BCS National Championship, and from there, Sooners’ head coach Bob Stoops and Strong built a connection. When Strong took over at Louisville, he called Stoops to talk about Moore, a graduate assistant at the time who played offensive line for Oklahoma from 2006-07.
“At that time, (Moore) was young and he was a very hard worker, someone who is very conscientious,” Strong said. “Someone who had a great relationship with the players. And I always felt that with a coach, you have to have a great relationship with your players because that would give you a chance to develop your players, which he did a really good job of developing players. And at that time at Louisville, we were just trying to get the program back on track, and he was an integral part of it.”
Louisville was best known during the Strong era for how it revolutionized its defense, and Jean-Mary was a key cog in turning a defense that ranked 65th overall when he entered in 2009 to No. 2 in 2013. In five seasons with Louisville, Jean-Mary helped five defensive players hear their names called in the NFL Draft .
It was clear Strong had a couple budding stars on his staff.
“You could see it with (Brian) and Sherrone both,” Strong said. “They were both young coaches that you knew that they had a bright future ahead of them. Just because of the way that they did their work, how they did things and how they carried themselves.”
Strong and Jean-Mary met at South Carolina in 2001 when Strong had his first Division I defensive coordinator job and Jean-Mary was a graduate assistant.
“He’s been with me everywhere. He’s been like a son to me,” Strong said. “When I got the Louisville job, he was one of the first guys that I called.”
The feeling appears mutual, as Jean-Mary traveled with Strong from Louisville to Texas, and then to South Florida for his first defensive coordinator job. And if Jean-Mary stays at Michigan long enough, being a defensive coordinator again is something Strong believes could be in the cards.
“I mean, I don’t know why he wouldn’t be (a defensive coordinator again),” said Strong. “The thing about Brian is that this is his second go-around at Michigan, so they are going to know who he is. He’s going to come in there and he is going to be himself. He is going to be one of those guys that is going to work at it. He’s someone who develops a great relationship with his players. It’s not so much about the scheme — it’s about how you develop relationships and (if you) can get your players to play for you. That’s what he can do.”
It’s been over a decade since Strong, Moore and Jean-Mary coached together at Louisville, but Strong confirmed the three still keep in touch. Strong was even an analyst at Alabama this season under Nick Saban. A Crimson Tide team that, of course, met the Michigan Wolverines in the Rose Bowl .
Moore had won four games for the Wolverines as the interim head coach last year, including pivotal wins on the road at Penn State and in The Game over Ohio State . They would not have made the College Football Playoff in the first place if it were not for the in-game coaching decisions from Moore. Strong made sure to touch base with his former pupil before Alabama and Michigan met at the Rose Bowl.
“We had numerous conversations (before the Rose Bowl), but I was very proud of him and I knew that he was going to do a great job because he was going to pour everything he had into it, and that’s what he’s going to do with Michigan right now,” Strong said. “I think they got not only an outstanding coach, but an outstanding person. He understands what he has to do and he is going to go, he’s going to be upbeat, and he’s going to be motivated. I’ve got a tremendous amount of faith and confidence in him that he is going to do an outstanding job.”
One of the reasons Strong believes in Moore at Michigan is the fact he is taking over a program that already has established a great culture and just won the national championship, something that will clearly be in his favor. On top of that, Moore was able to keep some key members of the coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball and retain most of the roster that was eligible to return (so far).
But what Strong might be most impressed with is the coaching staff Moore has put in place, specifically with the hiring of defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, a coach Strong has ties to from when he was the defensive line coach at Notre Dame — Wink was a graduate assistant on that staff.
“(Sherrone) has surrounded himself with some really good coaches, and that’s going to be critical for him,” Strong said. “There’s coaches there that he can lean on and he can get advice from, and that’s what he has done, which is super for him.”
As a man who has coached all over the country, Strong was extremely impressed with what Michigan had built under Harbaugh. He also understands this will be a new era for Moore. As a head coach at a handful of schools, Strong had some advice for Moore.
“He just needs to take (the program) and he can put a taste of what he wants to do,” Strong said. “There’s some things that he probably wants to change, and he needs to go ahead and change them. But it’s a program that’s been established, a program with a culture, and he’s just got to build on it.”