Sherrone Moore’s Rebuild Outpaces Harbaugh’s Reality

The elephant in the room that no one wants to admit is that Moore was going to need time to get Michigan back to being a contender after what Jim Harbaugh left. Moore took over a team with two NCAA investigations, a lack of talent and had to rebuild a coaching staff that Harbaugh gutted on the way out. Moore not only had to deal with problems inside of Schembechler Hall, he also had to get Michigan’s NIL game going because Harbaugh was being transformational instead of transactional.

The “Moore needs to go” narrative is ironic because many of the same people calling for Moore’s job are the same people who defended Harbaugh’s failures for the first six years of his tenure. What these people refuse to admit or see is that Moore has Michigan in a better place heading into year three than Harbaugh did.

Moore Builds, Fans Doubt

For all the people who want to question Moore but had Blind faith in Harbaugh, refuse to see that Moore has Michigan in a much better spot heading into his third year than Harbaugh did. A lot of the people who don’t believe in Moore after going 8-5 in year one forget Harbaugh went 8-5 in year three.

Just by looking at the quarterback position, it’s clear that Moore already has Michigan in a better place entering his third year than Harbaugh did. Moore has Bryce Underwood to build around. Harbaugh was working with John O’Korn, Brandon Peters and Wilton Speight. Combine that with Moore’s current coordinators, Chip Lindsey and Wink Martindale, over Don Brown and Tim Drevno, makes it easy to see the program is in a much better position now than it was then.

What Moore has put together is a foundation for success. Michigan has been injury-plagued all year, forcing Moore to use a number of true freshmen this season. It’s caused Michigan to struggle at times, but moving forward, Michigan now has a solid foundation to build on.

Underwood , Jayden Sanders, Blake Frazier, Nate Marshall, Elijah Dotson, Andrew Marsh and Andrew Sprague have all played meaningful minutes this season. Because of that, Michigan will have a ton of experience coming back.

Underwood has looked like the true freshman he is at times, but has shown he has the talent to be one of the best QBs in the country, and Marsh is already becoming a star WR. It’s guys like Underwood and Marsh that will propel the Wolverines moving forward.

Seeing Moore, Missing Harbaugh

People want Moore gone less than two years in despite being 4-0 against Michigan State (3-7, 0-7) and No.1 Ohio State (10-0, 7-0) and showing a ton of growth from year one. Harbaugh, however, was never questioned after starting 1-3 against their two rivals. The truth is, many of the people who question Moore as the coach would have questioned whoever took Harbaugh’s place. They’re mad the “Messiah” left and refuse to see what Moore is building.

The problem is people need to stop blaming Warde Manuel for Harbaugh leaving and start blaming the person responsible for Harbaugh. Harbaugh’s must-win culture made it impossible for him to stay, and he knew it. It’s also true that the struggles in year one under Moore had a lot to do with how Harbaugh left the program. The worst QB room in history, the worst WR room in history and two NCAA investigations.

And before you say Harbaugh didn’t know what Connor Stalions was doing. Remember Bo Schembechler’s words, “Not knowing is not an excuse. When someone uncovers a scandal in their company, I don’t think they can say, ‘I didn’t know that was going on. They’re just saying they’re too dumb to do their job.”

Moore took over a program with a mess to clean up, but for some reason doesn’t deserve the time to do it is idiotic.

Regardless of how Michigan’s season plays out Morre has the Wolverines in a great place moving forward. Harbaugh said Ryan Day was born on third base because he took over a team ready to compete. What no one realized is that’s actually a compliment toward Urban Meyer and Ohio State on how the program has been built. Moore should have had the same luxury. Unfortunately, Harbaugh, unlike Meyer, didn’t set the program up for continued success.

The people who don’t believe in, have no faith in or whatever they say about Moore as the head coach, need to calm down. If they do they would realize Moore is actually building a program that will find success a lot earlier than Harbaugh did.