Sherrone Moore reveals Jim Harbaugh wanted him being the next Michigan coach written in his contract

Sherrone Moore was the obvious pick to replace Jim Harbaugh as the next head coach at Michigan. Harbaugh himself couldn’t have agreed more either considering how he was viewing his offensive assistant before he ever even left Ann Arbor.

Moore discussed a moment that he had with Harbaugh before last season in an interview with Joel Klatt in his series called ‘Big Noon Conversations’. As he recalled it, his former boss had told him that he would be next in line to lead the Wolverines, which was a title that he had never once considered for himself prior to that. Harbaugh even went as far as to stay that he would have it as a stipulation in his contract.

“It entered my mind when Coach Harbaugh told me. Like, ‘You’re going to be the next head coach at Michigan,'” said Moore. “He told me that. He said, ‘I don’t know when. I don’t know what’s going to happen. No man can see the future’. He just said, ‘You’re going to be the next head coach at Michigan.'”

“I was just like, ‘What?’. He’s just like, ‘I’m going to put it in my contract that, if I ever leave or go somewhere, you’re the next head coach at Michigan,'” Moore said. “He told me that at the beginning of the year and I was like, ‘What?'”

That dazed feeling is an understandable one considering the magnitude of that statement from Harbaugh. It also was quite the motivation for Moore too to prove himself worthy over his predecessor’s final year.

“I just thought about that. I was just like this man who is a legendary coach, who has done it all, and we have a chance this year to special run is telling me that I’m going to be the next head coach here – what does that mean?” Moore thought. “That means I’ve got to work my tail off for this man. He trusted me and this offense to do everything possible to help him and this team win. I just worked as hard as I could this year.”

Moore earned that position by the time that last fall was over with. In his sixth season with the program, he became their full-fledged offensive coordinator. He also took on the role as interim head coach for four games. His contributions helped the maize & blue to an undefeated season as they won their third consecutive Big Ten Championship and their first national title since 1997.

This opportunity isn’t one that Moore ever imagined for himself. It’s something that he respects and wants to honor now, though, with everyone on and following their team being in support of him as their 21st head coach.

“I felt honored, felt like all the hard work that I put in with this team and these players had really come to fruition,” Moore said. “I mean it was something that you can’t really describe but just very humbled to have Wolverine Nation, all the people, all the players, coaches, you and some media say, ‘Hey, like, he should be the head coach at Michigan.'”

“When I first got here seven years ago, I just wanted to be the best tight-end coach I could be. That’s it. At some point, I wanted to call plays. I got a chance to do that with our young guys,” said Moore. “The opportunity to be the head coach here was really not in my mind. So, when this did take place, it was very humbling for me.”