It’s never easy replacing a championship coach. It’s harder still to replace a championship coach who leaves a complicated legacy. And when that coach leaves during NCAA investigations, as Jim Harbaugh did last winter?
Welcome to Sherrone Moore’s world.
Then again, Michigan football’s first-year head coach knew the world he was stepping into. Mostly because he spent the last six years on Harbaugh’s staff.
Still, to watch Moore answer almost as many questions about rule-breaking and optics as he did about football Tuesday afternoon inside Michigan’s football complex was to watch a coach with a lot to navigate, most notably his predecessor’s long and messy shadow.
An old saying in coaching is that it’s better to replace the coach who replaces the legend than to replace the legend. But then it’s hard to say no when a program like Michigan offers to hand over the keys to its team, no matter the timing.
Under normal circumstances, replacing a title-winning coach usually means trying to meet title-worthy expectations. This is true for Moore. But this isn’t the only expectation. He’s got to find a way to win and keep the program out of headlines for reasons other than winning or losing.