SportsMonday: By not flinching in promoting Sherrone Moore, Michigan did it right

Michigan got it right. That much is obvious. 

The Michigan football team had to find a new leader of its program when the Los Angeles Chargers edited a video of Jim Harbaugh jumping off a diving board to have the Chargers logo on the pool he splashed into, changed his Twitter profile picture to a ridiculous picture of him, and repeatedly posted that they got their guy.

The decision to replace an icon such as Harbaugh was evident to many, oftentimes so evident that it was taken for granted.

“After I met with all the student athletes and staff on Thursday, one student athlete was walking out with me,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said at Saturday’s press conference. “He pulled me to the side, and he said these words: ‘You know who we want.’ And I said, ‘I do.’ We actually never exchanged a name, so I hope I got it right.”

Not only did Michigan get it right in naming new head football coach Sherrone Moore, but the Wolverines did it the right way. When Harbaugh left, it suddenly created the hottest vacancy in college football: the head coach of the defending national champions at the winningest program in college football history. Plenty of coaches would leave top posts at well-performing programs to take it.

With such a high-profile opening, the Wolverines could have easily taken their time. They could have lumped Moore in with a pool of candidates from around the college football and NFL landscapes, interviewing multiple coaches multiple times. Maybe they still would have ended up with Moore at the end of the day, but engaging in such a drawn-out process discredits the very reason you want Moore to begin with: to keep things seamlessly moving forward after a stellar stretch of football that capped the Harbaugh era.

Moving quickly to get Moore epitomizes who he is and why he’s the right fit too. Because he’s a guy that doesn’t flinch. Because he’s a guy who embodies the smash-mouth, run-first, line-oriented football that brought Michigan back from the ashes. Because he serves as the perfect transition to keep the Wolverines riding national title momentum despite losing their head coach of nine years. Because of all of that, it would have been detrimental to seriously consider anyone else.

And Michigan didn’t seriously consider anyone else. It didn’t flinch, and got a coach who doesn’t either. It didn’t go around looking for big-name coaches like Brian Kelly and Lance Leipold to come interview for the job. It didn’t drag the process out for weeks to evaluate a handful of candidates. In hiring Sherrone Moore, the Wolverines not only recognized that they already had the perfect successor to Harbaugh in their building, but they also acted on that notion by moving fast.

Now, they have a coach who’s in a perfect position to keep things moving without delay.

Moore’s proven he knows how to win, going 4-0 as Michigan’s interim head coach and beating No. 10 Penn State and No. 2 Ohio State in the process. Manuel called it an audition that Moore “aced.” He recognized that Moore “didn’t flinch” when he was officially named acting head coach, not long before kickoff against the Nittany Lions.

Moore stepping in with such ease puts the Wolverines in a position not to flinch. This isn’t a time to slow down and reevaluate the program. Things are working, and you can’t flinch at the top.

At the end of the day, Michigan and its fans wanted Harbaugh to stay. They wanted it so badly that “10 more years” chants rang around Crisler Center when Harbaugh prepared to speak at the championship celebration. Since he left, the Wolverines needed to find a new head coach, not a new identity — the one they have is working just fine. Moore’s quick, internal promotion ensured that would remain the case.

“And lastly, from the words of the great Jack Harbaugh, we will continue to attack every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind,” Moore said in his introductory press conference. “And I promise you, we will smash.”

There it is in a nutshell. Moore is someone who will continue building on the Wolverines’ recent winning ways, referencing a Harbaugh quote and showing that the groundwork Harbaugh laid will continue.

But Moore isn’t Jim or Jack Harbaugh. He’s Sherrone Moore. He’s been at Michigan for six years and helped lay part of the foundation himself, mainly with his signature “smash” tagline that harkens to dominance on the trenches and ground game.

His statement’s closing words are a reminder of what Michigan got and why. He builds on the best that the Wolverines have to offer, and is the perfect person to build on recent success. He embodies the mindset that’s made Michigan what it is.

Choosing a new head coach was just one aspect of what was going on for the Wolverines at such a crucial time, following a natty turnaround. Sending a message that jeopardizes an energy the program hasn’t had since 1997 is equivalent to dragging the search out and casting a wide net.

Michigan is now in a solid position despite losing their head coach. because when it came time to choose a successor, it didn’t falter.

The Wolverines executed their plan flawlessly.