The Sherrone Moore era is over at Michigan after two short years, and for good reason. Now that he’s in the rearview mirror, we can begin to assess the overall job he did as Michigan’s head football coach.
Today, we broke down a few of the key qualities of a football coach and assessed how he performed as Michigan’s leading man.
Coaching Hires: D-
Following Jim Harbaugh’s departure, Moore had to rapidly fill out a staff as Harbaugh took most of Michigan’s assistants with him to the NFL. Moore hired Kirk Campbell to be his
offensive coordinator, Wink Martindale to be the defensive coordinator, and J.B. Brown to be the special teams coordinator. Swing and a miss. Campbell and Brown were abject disasters, with Campbell being let go after just one season while Brown made it two yeaes before being fired. Martindale was well on his way to needing to find a new job as well.
As for position coaches, Moore does get credit for bringing in defensive line coach Lou Esposito and running backs coach Tony Alford. However, the rest of the staff has been disappointing to various degrees. Alford and Esposito prevent this from being an F, but Moore was pretty close to flunking this department.
High School Recruitment: A-
Moore did well on the recruiting trail. The 2026 class was a borderline Top-10 class and included two five-stars in running back Savion Hiter and edge rusher Carter Meadows. But since his firing, two members of the class in four-star tight end Matt Ludwig and three-star offensive lineman Bear McWhorter have already left. However, it’s okay to give Moore some credit for putting together very good classes. Don’t forget the class of 2025 also included two five-stars in Bryce Underwood and Andrew Babalola.
Transfer Portal Management: B
In the transfer portal era, it’s unfair to define this category based on quantity as back-ups move around at their own pleasure now. However, we have to look at the quality of players in and out. Michigan lost a small handful of notable players in Keon Sabb, DJ Waller Jr. and Matthew Hibner after winning Harbaugh left and Moore was hired. However, Moore then brought in Jaishawn Barham, Josh Priebe and Dominic Zvada, to name a few, that same offseason. At worst, he broke even that season.
Before his second year, he was able to bring in Justice Haynes, Donaven McCulley, Damon Payne Jr. and Tre Williams, to name a few. The transfers out were plentiful, but very few made an impact at their respective new schools. It’s safe to say Moore brought in more talent than he lost in each of his two years. However, there were a few glaring holes each offseason that he did not address (quarterback in 2024, punter in 2025, etc.).
NIL: A
It’s hard to give Moore anything other than an A in this category, as he essentially got NIL off the ground at Michigan. Harbaugh’s famous “transformational, not transactional” model was destined to be dead-to-rights. Moore was able to retain players such as Mason Graham, Will Johnson, Kenneth Grant and Colston Loveland thanks to NIL deals, and he also played a role in Underwood signing with the Wolverines. Say what you will about Moore’s tenure at Michigan, but this was one of his legitimate strengths.
In-Game Management: F
To me, this is the single most-damning category for Moore. He seemed to have no clue what he was doing when it came to clock-management and his use of timeouts. The 2024 Indiana game is the best example, as it quite literally cost the Wolverines a chance at winning. However, alternative examples are numerous and there were no signs of improvement. Under his watch, Michigan routinely challenged obviously correct calls, failed to challenge obviously incorrect calls, and played an all-around undisciplined brand of football. This category is easily an F.
Culture-Setting: F
When Moore was first promoted, his main mantas quickly became “SMASH” and “Team over Me.” At the time, most fans were optimistic about these, as Moore was the former offensive line coach and had developed three stellar offensive lines from 2021-23. But that quickly deteriorated, as the 2024 and 2025 offensive lines were average at best.
However, the main reason we are giving this an F is the events of the past few weeks. The fact players and staffers in the program were aware of the inappropriate relationship between Moore and the staffer but were seemingly too afraid to speak up tells you all you need to know. The culture appears to be significantly worse now than what it was when Moore took over, prompting an easy F in this field.
