Michigan football is one of the biggest brands in sports, not just in college football.
The Wolverines have a rabid and international fanbase. They’ve also drawn the ire of plenty of rival schools, especially in light of the 2023 sign-stealing scandal that certainly put a target on their backs. The thing is, that target is still on their backs in 2024 and beyond, even though Jim Harbaugh is now in the NFL.
New head coach Sherrone Moore may not be the polarizing figure that Harbaugh was in Ann Arbor, Mich., but in his four games filling in for a suspended Harbaugh, he did learn that no matter who is calling the shots at Michigan, the spotlight is always on the “Block M.”
“I learned that you’re always in the spotlight, there’s always somebody watching you,” Moore recently told Joel Klatt (h/t On3). “But the decisions you make not only impact that side of the ball, but the whole team, and how important, how diligent, how detailed you need to be in the preparation of all that. I was very humbled, again, to just be in that position and do that.”
Moore not only proved able to handle the spotlight of being Michigan’s (interim) head coach, but he proved to be a darn good X’s and O’s coach as well. The Wolverines were 3-0 under his watchful eye, and that included wins at No. 10 Penn State and against No. 2 Ohio State in “The Game.”
X’s and O’s came up in his conversation with Klatt. Specifically, Moore spoke about the win at Penn State and how the Wolverines had to adjust to PSU’s strong pass rush by rushing 32 straight times in the second half.
Moore said he wouldn’t be opposed to running the ball ad nauseam again if the situation called for it.
“I’m not saying I won’t do it again, because if it has to be done, we will,” Moore told Klatt “Wasn’t the plan, wasn’t the plan at all. It just kind of happened that way. At the end of the day, we’re going to do whatever it takes to win. So if we’ve gotta do that, we will.”
That attitude there is exactly why Michigan gave Moore the job and trusted him to keep the Wolverines on track after their perfect 15-0, national championship season.
