Michigan Football’s Sherrone Moore was recently ranked as the No. 14 head coach in the Big Ten. We have some thoughts:
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Yelling at the clouds for Michigan Football head coach Sherrone Moore
The month of May sucks. Sure, the weather is warming up, the sun dresses are coming out, and the NHL and NBA playoffs are in full swing, but football never feels more distant. With the conclusion of spring ball and the NFL Draft fading quickly in the rearview, we annually go as far as talking ourselves into watching horse racing to fill some sort of void.
May is a desert for football fans — a month for yelling at the clouds, for when the rain interferes with outdoor activities, and for when people are wrong on the internet. A quick content curtain aside: When planning a content calendar, rankings always drive engagement. Rankings are easy, divisive, and the perfect offseason content to bridge the gap between seasons and keep the conversation going. The fact I am aware of this should have better prepared me for what I encountered over the weekend.
Last week, USA Today released its rankings of the Big Ten’s coaches heading into the 2025 season. Unsurprisingly, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was at the top; Penn State’s James Franklin was overvalued; UCLA’s DeShaun Foster was near the bottom. But where was Sherrone Moore, you ask?
Keep scrolling (and scrolling) and you’ll find Moore sandwiched between Purdue’s Barry Odom and Washington’s Jedd Fisch near the basement at No. 14. Here is the entire list:
- Ryan Day, Ohio State
- James Franklin, Penn State
- Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
- Dan Lanning, Oregon
- Matt Rhule, Nebraska
- Curt Cignetti, Indiana
- P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
- Bret Bielema, Illinois
- Lincoln Riley, USC
- Greg Schiano, Rutgers
- Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
- Jonathan Smith, Michigan State
- Barry Odom, Purdue
- Sherrone Moore, Michigan
- Jedd Fisch, Washington
- Mike Locksley, Maryland
- DeShaun Foster, UCLA
- David Braun, Northwestern
This list was published before the reported two-game suspension
, and will have no impact on how we discuss pure coaching merit. Now, let’s examine the case for Moore before raging. What the hell is this list? The effort used to construct this list is the same effort that went into the decision-making to send Katy Perry to space. As a society, we must do better. we address the list in full and re-rank using basic thought and reason.
In 2023, we all remember where we were when we got the news that head coach Jim Harbaugh would be suspended for Michigan’s final three regular season games. Outrage — similar to what I experienced reading these stupid, arbitrary rankings — coursed through the fan base and spawned the rallying cry, “BET” among the team.
Despite Harbaugh battling for an injunction until the 11th hour, then-offensive coordinator Moore took the reins and led Michigan to victory over Penn State, 24-13, in Happy Valley. A game in which he served as head coach, primary offensive play caller and offensive line coach. A game where Moore had to scrap Harbaugh’s original game plan, abandon the use of quarterback J.J. McCarthy — who entered that weekend FIRST in the odds for the Heisman Trophy — and run the ball 32 straight times to secure the victory.
We often talk about “pantheon-level” Michigan player performances — Tim Biakabutuka against Ohio State in 1995, Hassan Haskins (or Aidan Hutchinson) vs. the Buckeyes in 2021, and Braylon Edwards against Michigan State in 2004 — but rarely do we speak about pantheon coaching performances.
It would be myopic to say this is the best coaching performance in Michigan history, but it’s in the highest tier. This game was Moore evoking Randy Marsh as he marched to victory with a wheelbarrow supporting his intestinal fortitude. This was Moore standing on business and answering the bell when everyone else was counting him out, a theme he echoed to close out the 2024 season.
Following that signature win and emotional high against Penn State, Moore had to refocus for the ultimate trap game against Maryland. The Terps had caused the Wolverines issues the year prior, and this game was sure to be no different. Mix in a one-legged McCarthy who suffered an ankle injury late against the Nittany Lions and the untimely injury-related departure of Roman Wilson during the game, and the table was set for an upset.
However, a resilient defense and a ball-control (clock-draining) strategy kept the upset-minded Terps at bay, 31-24. The win marked win No. 1,000 for the Wolverines, a first in the history of college football.
For his final head-coaching obligation of 2023, Moore only had to beat an undefeated Ohio State team with a College Football Playoff (CFP) berth hanging in the balance. Keep in mind, there was no 12-team CFP safety net afforded to Michigan in this game like it was to 2024 Ohio State. This was an old-fashioned loser-leaves-town match, and Moore made sure the Wolverines were the one in 11-1 for the Buckeyes.
Without Moore’s coaching acumen, the 2023 national championship never would have happened. Moore essentially won three playoff games to keep the season alive, and it came as no surprise when he was named the next head coach at Michigan.
At this juncture, the detractors can flourish. As Sports Illustrated did:
“The jury is still out on Moore after an up-and-down debut season that ended with a flourish: Michigan closed with another win against Ohio State and then beat Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl. That’s a very positive sign for 2025 and beyond. He’s recruited well and has already taken the necessary steps to beef up last year’s woeful offense, so Moore could climb these rankings by this time next year.”
But this justification is woefully ignoring the fact that Moore inherited a roster that lost 19 players (13 drafted) and the entire defensive coaching staff. Furthermore, the “flourish” downplays the significance of Moore beating the eventual national champions without the threat of the forward pass in Columbus. Or beating an Alabama team — that was the first team out of the CFP and was playing its starters — in the ReliaQuest Bowl without Will Johnson, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Kalel Mullings, Donovan Edwards, Myles Hinton and Josaiah Stewart.
On the backs of those victories, coupled with a plethora of returning starters, this team is now positioned to make a run at the CFP.
Okay, second wind, now, let’s fix these rankings:
1. Ryan Day, Ohio State
Sure.
2. Dan Lanning, Oregon
He can’t win the big one, but he wins the rest.
3. Curt Cignetti, Indiana
He took Indiana (INDIANA!) to the CFP.
4. Sherrone Moore, Michigan
Moore is one of only two coaches on this list to beat Day and the only coach on this list to do it twice. Not to mention, Moore won eight games with a service academy offense in the hardest conference in college football.
5. James Franklin, Penn State
Franklin remains the John Calipari of college football — an elite recruiter, an average coach. Even the Penn State fans agree .
6. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
The Godfather of zone running has won nine or more games in five of the last 10 seasons and has not finished worse than 8-5 since 2014.
7. Lincoln Riley, USC
I know Riley is trending in the wrong direction, but he is 81-24 as a head coach and has never had a losing season.
8. Bret Bielema, Illinois
The Rib God led Illinois to its first 10-win season since 2001 last year, and he has the team poised to repeat that success this season.
9. Matt Rhule, Nebraska
Rhule is trying to complain his way to another program turnaround and improve his head-coaching record, which stands at only three games over .500.
10. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
Fleck is annoying, but he consistently maximizes his roster talent and led the Gophers to a top-10 finish in 2019.
11. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
Schiano has not won more than seven games in a season during his second stint with the Scarlet Knights. However, he has led RUTGERS to seven wins in back-to-back seasons.
12. Jedd Fisch, Washington
The turnaround at Arizona bordered on historic. Can Fisch keep progressing in year two at Washington?
13. David Braun, Northwestern
Braun won the Big Ten Coach of the Year two years ago by winning more games in a single season than Luke Fickell has during his tenure in Madison. The drop-off last year was expected, but he will need a step forward this year to hold onto this spot.
14. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Cincinnati feels like a lifetime ago. Fickell’s 12 wins in two years are Wisconsin’s lowest total since 1995-96. Even lower than either of the surrounding seasons, coupled with the 2020 season. Paul Chryst was let go after 7-5, and so far that is Fickell’s best mark. Is this the new Bo Pelini curse?
15. Jonathan Smith, Michigan State
Smith worked his magic at Oregon State , but the Spartans feel like they are treading water as they fight to reclaim relevance in the conference.
16. Barry Odom, Purdue
Barry Odom was successful at UNLV, but was fired the last time he was a head coach at the Power Four level.
17. DeShaun Foster, UCLA
UCLA finished 5-7 last year, but Foster’s squad was 4-2 down the stretch. In his first year as a head coach, Foster injected life into a program that was in critical condition.
18. Mike Locksley, Maryland
Locksley has had three winning seasons in 10 years as a head coach. But without quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, he has had zero.
Somehow I already hate my own list and somewhere a rival fan base is already picking it apart. But together, we have killed another May day with some fun discourse — and without pretending to like horse racing — and are one step closer to the college football season.