Joel Klatt explains why Sherrone Moore was a 'no-brainer' for Michigan

Michigan moved quickly to replace Jim Harbaugh as head football coach last week, elevating offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore into the head role. And as far as FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt is concerned, the move was an obvious decision.

Keeping Moore helps Michigan avoid instability and the churn of the transfer portal by keeping the continuity from the previous staff, Klatt argued. Plus, Moore had already auditioned as head coach, in a way.

“I do think Sherrone Moore is going to have a lot of success, but the first thought that I already laid out is that this was a no-brainer,” Klatt said. “And the first element to that is that he did prove it. So we got to see this. He didn’t have to go into a job interview and say ‘This is what I would do if I was the head coach.’ They got to see it in practice and they got to see it in some of the biggest games that Michigan had, in particular down the stretch.”

Moore served as the acting head coach on four separate game days for Michigan: vs. Bowling Green in September and against Penn State, Maryland and Ohio State to end the season in November. Both times, Harbaugh had been suspended from coaching the team on gamedays.

So while Moore wasn’t necessarily serving as head coach during the week and there are still fair questions about his ability to lead a program on the days they aren’t playing a game. But in the game day leadership and game management department Moore had a leg up on other coordiantors.

“That’s the job interview,” Klatt said. “You didn’t have to have a job interview to look at what he was able to do and immediately know that he was going to be the coach. And he did a great job in those games. Their game plans were terrific. His adjustment against Penn State was outstanding, when he realized that they weren’t going to be able to block the pass rush for Penn State, what did he do? He got big, put extra offensive linemen on the field and immediately ran the ball 32-straight times to close out the game. Incredible, incredible adjustment as the acting head coach and the play caller.”

And the chance to elevate a current coach to both keep some sustainability for how the program is run and plays while heading off a potential transfer exodus seems to have paid dividends for Michigan, as there’s been a notable dearth of portal entrys.

“If this offseason has proven anything, it’s that no program, no program in the country is immune from the chaos that ensures with a coaching change,” Klatt said. “No program. Look at Alabama. Alabama’s the case study. Nick Saban walks away and retires as the greatest in the history of our sport and immediately chaos ensued, even at Alabama. So the fact that Michigan could do this, with a guy that has been in this program and helped build this culture that just culminated in a national championship, is a must and they needed to do it quickly, which is exactly what they did, to avoid the chaos that naturally ensues in modern-day college football when you change your coach.”