Unlike Jim Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore isn't eager to grab spotlight for Michigan football

When Jim Harbaugh returned to Ann Arbor nine years ago, he aimed to resurrect Michigan football through sheer force of personality. He was a lightning rod of attention — moving the needle with his quirky catchphrases, unorthodox methods, inflammatory social media postings and public appearances. The circus around him became so big that it even garnered its own name: “Harbaugh-mania.”

As he barnstormed the country during his audacious satellite camp tour, Harbaugh drew the spotlight toward him. Journalists tracked his every move while his coaching peers fumed that this agitator straight from the NFL had come back to the college ranks intent on disrupting the natural order. It was impossible not to notice him.

But Harbaugh’s successor at Michigan has made himself easy to ignore. On Thursday, just as the opening round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was set to tip off, Sherrone Moore conducted his second news conference since he was promoted as the Wolverines’ new head coach Jan. 26. His first one, when he was officially introduced as Harbaugh’s replacement, was held on the eve of the Detroit Lions’ NFC championship clash with the San Francisco 49ers. Most of the local media had already made the trek out to the Bay Area to cover that game, which left a thin crowd back in Ann Arbor for Moore to address.

He didn’t seem to care, however.

“Everything has to do with the players,” the 38-year-old Moore said. “That’s what it’s all about. I’m going to stay low, hidden as much as I can, and let the players get the credit and limelight.”

FUTURE DEFENSE: How Wink Martindale tweaks Michigan football's defense, if at all, will matter

Moore has taken that modest approach during an offseason when the Wolverines have struggled to harness the momentum from the national championship they won 74 days ago. The program has been a state of flux ever since that glorious January evening in Houston, where they finished off a perfect 15-0 season marked by scandal, controversies and resilient performances.

In the coming weeks, 18 starting-caliber players, led by quarterback J.J. McCarthy, entered the NFL draft. Then, Harbaugh bolted for the Los Angeles Chargers later that month, triggering a domino effect of staff departures. All five defensive coaches left, with four of them following Harbaugh to his next job. Celebrated strength and conditioning director Ben Herbert also joined the exodus, reuniting with Harbaugh out west. Moore raced against the clock to fill the vacancies as the coaching cycle went through its final spins.

But he encountered numerous challenges along the way. In February, he appeared to be on the verge of prying former graduate assistant Stephen Adegoke away from the Houston Texans to run the secondary. But he reportedly backed out, leaving Moore to pursue LaMar Morgan for the role. Then, on Thursday, new defensive line coach Greg Scruggs resigned five days after he was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Scruggs’ abrupt exit muted the enthusiasm Moore generated when he hired Ohio State’s Tony Alford to replace Mike Hart as the team’s running backs coach in the leadup to spring practice.

“I think it’s life as a head coach,” Moore said. “You’re going to deal with ups and downs. Things are going to happen. So, you’ve got to be able to improvise and adjust and be ready to do that.”

[ MUST LISTEN: Make "Hail Yes!" your go-to Michigan Wolverines podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

Moore has grown accustomed to operating in a dynamic environment, where circumstances can change suddenly, sometimes without warning. As the offensive coordinator last year, he watched as Harbaugh was suspended twice and the program became the subject of two separate NCAA probes. Harbaugh’s troubles positioned Moore to lead the team on the field for four games, which turned into a set of auditions that caught the attention of athletic director Warde Manuel. In one of them, a 24-15 victory over Penn State, Moore made the bold decision to call 32 straight runs and Manuel was swayed by the display of chutzpah.

“That’s really the time it clicked for me that he could be the next head coach,” Manuel recalled.

Yet, in the minutes after that win, Moore made an even bigger impression on a national television audience. During a postgame television interview, he cried, ranted and cussed. The 40-second clip went viral, and Moore seemed embarrassed by it.

“Sometimes the emotions get the best of you,” he said then.

Moore was determined not to let that happen again though.

Over time, he has retreated from the spotlight even as he stepped into one of college football’s most high-profile jobs. Instead of making his own mark as Michigan’s coach, he has focused his efforts on preserving the structural continuity of Harbaugh’s program, telling reporters that “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” To that end, Moore replaced defensive coordinator Jesse Minter with Wink Martindale, the man credited with launching the Baltimore Ravens system that Michigan adopted before it began its 40-3 run over the past three seasons. He also appointed Herbert’s right-hand man, Justin Tress, as head of strength and conditioning.

The moves make sense. Yet it led one former staffer, who worked with Moore, to suggest that his former colleague needs to put his own stamp on the program.

“As much as everybody wants it to stay the same, it has to evolve and become the team in the image of Sherrone Moore and no longer the image of Jim Harbaugh,” the source said.

But what exactly would that look like?

It’s hard to say. Moore isn’t exactly a larger-than-life figure like Harbaugh is. Even Martindale, the 60-year-old blitz-happy play-caller with a snappy nickname and plenty of moxie, has largely overshadowed Moore since his arrival last month.

In turn, the new defensive mastermind has helped fill some of the void left by Harbaugh, whose departure created a huge leadership vacuum.

In the aftermath of Harbaugh's exit, Michigan hasn’t netted a single commitment from a high school player in the 2025 class and has fallen to No. 33 in 247Sports’ rankings. During virtually the same time frame, Alabama’s new coach, Kalen DeBoer, has secured five verbal pledges — all of which were delivered in the past month. The absence of a recruiting spike following a national title has been one of the most surprising developments during the Wolverines’ bizarre offseason.

But whether it will push Moore to change his tack and become more forward-facing is uncertain.

While Moore has been willing to copy his old boss in many respects, it seems unlikely that he will ever go to the lengths Harbaugh did during 2015 — a year when he seemed to be everywhere drumming up publicity for a program that had flatlined under his predecessors.

“That’s what he felt like he needed to do at that time,” Moore said. “We were also in a completely different time, where he wasn’t coming off winning a national title. I don’t want any attention on me.”

Instead, Moore seems content to remain in the background while he tries to keep the Wolverines in front of the competition.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Unlike Jim Harbaugh, Michigan's Sherrone Moore content in background