10 college football coaches with the best chance of winning first national championship next
By John Buhler
8. Sherrone Moore has what it takes to ride Jim Harbaugh's momentum
While I am skeptical of Michigan being capable of repeating as national champions this season, I do like the easy hiring decision Warde Manuel and Santa Ono made to promote Sherrone Moore from within to be Jim Harbaugh's successor. Moore's team will have an established identity, which is great line play and a ground-and-pound offensive attack. This philosophy should work out well in the Big Ten.
Where I have my reservations about Michigan going forward under Moore, besides the potential sanctions that could be coming from the ongoing sign-stealing scandal that cost Connor Stalions and others their jobs, is that the Big Ten just got better and deeper by adding four former Pac-12 schools in Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. At least two of them will be competitive right away.
To me, I think there is a chance where Moore could get immediate buy-in from the Michigan players he inherited from Harbaugh. We have seen guys get promoted from within and have great success right away. The best example of that in the College Football Playoff era was Mark Helfrich taking over for Chip Kelly at Oregon. Helfrich had the Ducks playing in the national championship back in 2014.
Moore needs to ride Harbaugh's coattails and seize every ounce of momentum possible to do this.