Here’s why Sherrone Moore is the next head coach of the Michigan football team and why the Wolverines are here to stay.
Since Tom Osborne‘s time as head coach of the Michigan football team, there hasn’t been a change of coaching leadership comparable to that of Jim Harbaugh to Sherrone Moore.
After guiding Nebraska to a national title in 1997, Osborne announced his retirement. The last time the reigning national champions had a new head coach was at that time. However, Jim Harbaugh’s replacement is a former assistant, just like Osborne was.
The lone applicant for Michigan football, which didn’t even bother to run a nationwide search, was Sherrone Moore. Two days after Harbaugh left to join the Chargers, Moore was named. During his tenure, Frank Solich was able to guide Nebraska to both a conference and national championship game, but ultimately, the Huskers fell away.
Will Michigan football have a similar outcome? These three factors explain why it won’t.
A successful precedent
Solich’s problems stem in part from Osborne’s triple-option offense, which hindered him. That was going to fall by the wayside eventually, and Nebraska was doomed by its unwillingness to adapt. To make such a scheme work, you need really good running backs and offensive linemen. That petered out shortly after Osborne departed.
Moore predicted that the Wolverines would “smash,” or stick to the run. However, would they still have the guys to run for 32 consecutive yards against a top-10 defense, as the Michigan Wolverines did in their victory against Penn State in November of last year?
It’s difficult to say, but Michigan’s offensive system isn’t outdated. Moore only needs to play to its advantages rather than completely rework everything.
Michigan will have a first-round pick at quarterback since the quarterback is a skilled thrower as well as a good runner. It’s a modern program, and to be honest, Michigan probably wouldn’t have won the national championship in the first place if Moore hadn’t played on the offensive line and as an interim head coach.
As Jim Harbaugh famously remarked after Moore’s official head coaching announcement, “the proof is in the pudding,” and Moore has already demonstrated his readiness with two top-10 victories. The foundation for this program’s success is also in place.
Nor did Nebraska decline as drastically as most people believe. Despite winning nine games in each of his nine seasons as head coach, Solich was sacked. In six seasons, he finished in the top five twice and in the top ten three times. Thus, that was merely an error on the part of the Huskers, from which they are still recovering.
Solich had six seasons with a record of 58-19. Michigan football could potentially earn several 12-team playoff places if Moore takes that action. Similar to Nebraska and even Stanford under David Shaw’s leadership after Jim Harbaugh, all the pieces are in place to maintain winning at the highest caliber.
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