What specific strategies has Sherrone Moore employed to assemble and maintain a strong coaching staff for Michigan football, especially in light of the challenges presented by coaches departing for the NFL and the evolving landscape of college football?
Sherrone Moore has excelled in assembling a coaching staff for Michigan football, particularly noteworthy given the numerous departures to the NFL. In today’s college game, the NFL can be seen as a more straightforward job. NFL coaches don’t have to recruit players, manage NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) issues, or cope with losing key players every year. While there is free agency in the NFL, contracts provide a level of stability. College football, on the other hand, operates on a year-to-year basis for everyone involved.
With the addition of Lamar Morgan, it seems that the Michigan football coaching staff is now complete, pending official confirmation of Mike Hart’s status. Nevertheless, the importance of off-field roles in college football has grown significantly. This was underscored by the recent announcement of a new hire for Michigan football: Zach Higginbotham will join the Wolverines as the Director of Sport Science.
He mentioned that he would have a dual role with the Wolverines. Higginbotham previously served as the Applied Science and Recruiting Coordinator at Cal.
Player development, especially in terms of strength and conditioning, has been a crucial aspect of the Wolverines’ success in recent years. Ben Herbert played a significant role in this, and his successor, Justin Tress, has taken over as the director of strength and conditioning. The addition of Zach Higginbotham as the Director of Sport Science represents a new, player-friendly dimension to the program, akin to practices seen at schools like Alabama.
The trend of including such specialized staff in college football programs is growing, and Sherrone Moore’s efforts to modernize Michigan’s off-field staff for recruiting and other purposes are commendable.