Nearly nobody was surprised when Michigan picked Sherrone Moore to replace Jim Harbaugh as the new football head coach. Even Harbaugh predicted the offensive coordinator would eventually take his job.
Speaking to FOX broadcaster Joel Klatt on Big Noon Conversations , Moore said he was “humbled” and “honored” to receive so much support for the position when Harbaugh went to the Los Angeles Chargers. While he hoped to one day call offensive plays when joining Michigan’s staff as the tight ends coach in 2018, Moore hadn’t considered ever becoming the program’s head coach.
That was the case until Harbaugh introduced the possibility before leaving Ann Arbor.
“It entered my mind when Coach Harbaugh told me, ‘You’re going to be the next head coach at Michigan,'” Moore recalled. “This year, he told me that. He said, ‘I don’t know when. I don’t know what’s going to happen. No man can see the future.’ He just said, ‘You’re going to be the next head coach at Michigan.'”
According to Moore, Harbaugh wanted to create a clear and legally binding succession plan.
“He’s just like, ‘I’m going to put it in my contract that, if I ever leave or go somewhere, you’re the next head coach at Michigan,'” Moore said. “He told me that at the beginning of the year and I was like, ‘What?'”
Harbaugh was ultimately proven correct when Michigan hired Moore. Yet he probably didn’t envision Moore’s early audition.
Along with leading a Week 3 win over Bowling Green as the acting coach, Moore stepped into the role when Harbaugh served another three-game suspension to end the regular season. He made it incredibly difficult for the school to consider anybody else after coaching the Wolverines to victories over Penn State and Ohio State.
Moore said Harbaugh’s proclamation motivated him throughout a chaotic 2023 season.
“I’ve got to work my tail off for this man,” Moore said of Harbaugh. “He trusted me and this offense to do everything possible to help him and this team win. I just worked as hard as I could this year.”
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