Sherrone Moore on why beginning of tenure is like '3rd and 12,' plan for Michigan NIL

Michigan Wolverines football‘s new head coach, Sherrone Moore, had an audition last season, serving as interim head coach for four games (Bowling Green, Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State) while Jim Harbaugh was suspended.

Harbaugh was around those weeks every day except Saturday, when Moore led the team to four victories. Moore had a lot on his plate then, calling plays and coaching the offensive line, but it was still Harbaugh’s program. Now, after his promotion, it’s his, and that means so are the many responsibilities that come with that.

“During that three-game stretch, my main focus was trying to do everything I could to prepare myself, prepare the players to get ready to win those games,” the Michigan coach said on the Pat McAfee Show. “I wasn’t really thinking about the future. Just really thinking about what we can do to win those games.

“There wasn’t really a time that I thought I could be a head coach at Michigan. I think that’s always the goal in most coaches’ minds to be a head coach. There really wasn’t a moment, but I can tell you after winning that last one, it was pretty special. It was something that I dreamed about, being the head coach at Michigan at some point.”

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He’s jumped right in, hitting the road to recruit while trying to build his staff at the same time. Retaining players is just as important as recruiting in the short-term, too, so that’s another responsibility.

NIL is also a top priority, and it helps drive player retention and recruiting, both out of the transfer portal and the high school ranks. Moore understands that and said at his introductory press conference that he wants to be “aggressive” in every aspect of the program.

“I’ve learned about the NIL era throughout the time here and try to be involved and listening and knowing what’s going on,” the Michigan coach said. “But the official sit-downs haven’t really happened yet. I got the job and then got ready to get on the road.”

It’s been a whirlwind the first week on the job.

“I’d say for a first-time head coach, I’ve told people, the first couple of days, in comparison, it’s 3rd and 12 on the minus-4 yard line and it’s zero pressure — you gotta figure out what to do with the ball,” the Michigan coach said with a smile. “It’s becoming more of 3rd and 4, 3rd and 5 — more manageable — and I think every single day will help you get ahead of the chains. That’s what I’m going to try to do every single day.”

Once the dead period hits after this weekend, there will surely be (at least a little) more time for Moore to work on next steps, including finalizing his Michigan staff and putting together his plan for NIL. On the latter aspect, though, it seems as if he already has a good idea on where he wants it to go.

“As far as the NIL piece, it’s something that’s there,” Moore said. “It’s something that you’ve gotta address, something that you’ve gotta attack, that you’ve gotta have a plan for. The plan that I think we’re going to have in place, we’re going to implement. And hopefully that will keep us where we need to be in college football.”

Sherrone Moore looking for Michigan men on recruiting trail

Moore is seeking players that are good people, good at football and love the game. If they check those three boxes, they more than likely will fit at Michigan.

“There are a whole bunch of things,” Moore said of what he looks for in a player. “Obviously, you can’t see that on film. You can’t see that even in one conversation. It’s building a good relationship with the kid, with the coaches, with their families to see how they were raised, how their parents raised them, how their parents talked to them. There are a whole bunch of different factors, so it’s hard to pinpoint it.

“I think the relationship just has to really grow deep so you can figure out what type of kid he is. If he loves to be coached hard, if he wants to be coached hard and if he loves football. We always tell guys, ‘If you love football, you love playing here.’

“We want people that want to be Michigan men. It’s a united front, a brotherhood. People that are blue collar, hard working that do everything the right way, in any way possible, for the person next to him. It’s a brotherhood that’s really unbroken, and I’m excited that, hopefully one day I can be that.”

McAfee asked if there’s a “plethora” of recruits like that out there.

“I don’t know if there’s a plethora, but there’s enough,” Moore said with a smile. “There’s enough out there to be able to do it, and we’re going to go find ‘em.”