The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Big Noon Conversations: Michigan’s Sherrone Moore on winning a Title & taking over for Jim Harbaugh

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

In the season premiere of The Joel Klatt Show: Big Noon Conversations, FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt sits down with new Michigan Head Coach Sherrone Moore. Coach Moore tells the story of when Jim Harbaugh told him he would be the next coach of the Wolverines. He describes what made the 2023 National Championship team so unique and how much motivation the sign-stealing saga provided the group throughout the year. Recapping the Playoff run, Coach Moore reveals his favorite moments and what was said on the sideline in the moments just before Michigan’s 4th Quarter comeback vs Alabama in the Rose Bowl. He also describes why the win at Penn State as interim Head Coach was so special to him and, of course, the two discuss his post-game interview with Jenny Taft that followed that game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're going to be the next head coach in Michigan. And he's just like, I'm going to put it in my contract that, you know, if I ever believe or go somewhere that you're the next head coach for Michigan, and you told me that at the beginning of year. And I was just like, what? The most influential people in the sport talking about the sport globally. On this episode of Big Noon Conversations, I talk with the new head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, Sharon Moore. Head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, Sharon Moore.

Thanks for joining me, man. How you doing it? Great. I'm doing great. First things, first, what's the best part about being the Michigan Wolverines head coach? Walking in every single day into this beautiful facility with all these great kids and people and just, you know, understanding and knowing that everybody looks to us, looks to be as the head coach of this great university, great tradition. And just our players, the players, being around the players every day is the best part for me. So I love that. I would love for you to take us back into that moment when you know Coach Harbaugh is.

is going to move on and get a job with the chargers. And, you know, we had talked. I know that this was always in your aspirations. But take me into what it was like for you, you know. And when did you realize that this was the move that they were going to make? Well, I was in the Dallas or Houston Airport heading to Dallas. Recruiting. Yeah.

And I just talked to coach probably like three hours before that. And he's kind of like, yeah, you know, I don't know what's going to happen. I think it could happen soon. It could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. It could happen next week. And I was like, okay, it's going to happen at some point. I just got to be ready.

And he called, you know, I saw it. I was going through baggage claim or going through the TSA. And it popped up on my phone, Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers. I was like, okay. And that second phone, do, do, do, do, do. Text messages calls. Text messages calls. Our AD or assistant AD calls, hey, you got to come back right now.

So I did the interview that next day and got the job on Saturday. the press conference was on the road recruiting on Monday, and that was it. And it was just humbling experience. I mean, I know that you had probably prepared for this and knew as close as your staff was, and you probably knew that this was Jim's aspirations, and you wanted to set yourself up for that.

But what I thought was unique, you know, having covered this sport for a long time, whether it was a guy like me on the outside, pounding the table for Sharon Moore immediately, or the fan base, players, fan base. It was in unison, and that's very rare. Normally, these types of moves come with different factions of people voicing their opinions and wanting different things.

That wasn't the case here. It was universally. Sharon Moore is going to be our head coach at Michigan. What did that make you feel like when you felt that kind of groundswell of support? I felt honored. It felt like all the hard work that I'd put in that with this team, and these players had really come to fruition. And, I mean, it was something that you can't really describe,

but just very humbled to have, you know, Wolverine Nation, all the people, all the players, coaches, you and, you know, some media to say, hey, like, he should be the head coach at Michigan. And, you know, when I first got here seven years ago, I just want to be the best tight-hand coach I could be. That's it. You know, at some point I wanted to call plays. I got a chance to do that with our young guys.

And, you know, the opportunity to be the head coach here, was really not in my mind. And so when this did take place, it was very humbling for me. When did it enter your mind? Probably it entered my mind when Coach Harbaugh told me, like, you're going to be the next head coach of Michigan. When did he tell you that?

This year, he told me that. He said, I don't know when. I don't know what's going to happen. No man can say the future, tell the future. He gave you a Harbaughism. But that's how he is. He's like that all the time. And he just said, you're going to be the next head coach in Michigan.

And I was just like, what? And he's just like, I'm going to put it in my contract that, you know, if I ever believe or go somewhere that you're the next head coach of Michigan. And he told me that, like, at the beginning of year. And I was just like, what? Like, I just thought about that. And I was just like, this man who's a legendary coach, who's done it all, and we have a chance this year to make a special run is telling me that I'm going to be the next head coach here.

And like, what does that mean? That means I got to work my tail off for this man. He trusted me. in this offense to do everything possible to help him and this team win. So it just worked as hard as I could this year. Last year was a, you can use any type of word to describe it. Yeah. Wild, magical, legendary, all of the things. Let me take you into more of the wild nature, you know, and everything that was going on,

even you had to sit out a game, coach had to sit out a few games. Then all of a sudden, what happens at the end of the year with, coach having to sit for a few games. So you got a taste of being an acting head coach last season. What did you learn from those experiences when you had the reins on game day? Yeah, I learned that you're always in the spotlight. There's always somebody watching you, but the decisions you make not only impact that side of the ball, but the whole team, and how important, how diligent, how detailed you need to be in the preparation of all that. and was very humbled again to just be in that position to do that.

You know, the first game that happened was the Penn State game. And it was an environment that's close to unmatched in any college football arena, especially for an away team. It was loud. It was volatile. It was fun. Invigorating. But it was something that our players kind of gravitated towards.

And they love that. They love being the villain. And it was a special, special game. You can't bring up that game without me bringing up your interview with you. Yeah. To say that this has been a crazy 24 hours for your guys to win on the road in this environment, when there were doubts. Shroom, what does it mean to you? Well, I thank the Lord.

I want to thank Coach Harbaugh. I love you, man. I love the shit out of you, man. This is for you. For this university, the president, our AD, we got the best players, best university, best university, best alumni in the country. Love you guys. These guys right here. These guys right here, man. These guys did it. These guys did it, man. Talk to him, man. Love you. That was an epic, authentic, and very, is one of the best interviews that she's ever

gone. She was so happy, by the way, at the end of that. I know you probably weren't as happy with it. Here's what she was so happy with when we were talking after the game. She was like, that was Sharon. Sharon was authentic. That was how excited he was. There was no facade there in that moment. What was that moment like for you? I mean, all the emotions that you can feel in anything exciting, that's what I felt.

And the hard work, the dedication that the players are put in, that Coach Harbaugh is put in this program, all came out in that moment. And for our people out of the outside to think, you know, our players didn't win fairly or do something or do that, like it was just kind of like, okay, bet, this is what we're about. We're going to go attack the moment we did.

And now what can you say about us? Without our head coach, you know, we proved ourselves right that we can go in this big environment. And there was a moment that, you know, it was just unfiltered. Unfortunately, the bad words came out. But I apologize to my mom, so that's okay. Did you get a text or a call from your mom?

Oh, yeah. I mean, I got reprimanded a little bit. It was my mom and my grandma, so I'll try to make sure that they didn't, they were too mad at me, but they understood the moment. And the players, I think, appreciate it because, you know, I think a lot of,

in the world today, that emotion is kind of seeked as weakness. And I don't see it as that. So, you know, people can say whatever they want. But we accomplished something pretty special last year. You just mentioned this chip on the shoulders of the players last year. Boulder sometimes. Yeah, a bolder. And this prove it mentality, it was always, you know,

from the outside looking in and shoot, man. I've called 16-year games the last three years. You've seen me a ton. But I was always wondering this year, like, how real is that element of their motivation? With all of the sign-stealing saga and everything that was going on or being written or talked about, how much did the players actually use that in motivation for their run?

I think a little bit. I think they were motivated by that more than anything, winning the national championship, getting the national championship, because that's all they talked about at the beginning of the year after the TCU game last year. And we always talked about process over prize.

And we knew what the prize was. All right, let's stop talking about the prize and let's go attack the process of getting better every day. So we did that. And I think when all that stuff started to come out, it was like it just added a little fuel to the fire, just a little bit.

And we didn't need any, but kind of glad, you know, you had a little fuel. It kept that chip, kept that boulder on their shoulder, even brighter, and they took it and ran with it. So most unique team I've ever been around. I've been around a lot of teams. Covered some really, really good teams, talented teams in every sport. The 23 Michigan football team was the most unique team I've ever been around.

I don't know how to describe it. Can you describe it? What was it about this group that was so darn special? I can't either. I think there's just a love, a connection, a bond that was imbreakable, that you couldn't break. You can do whatever you wanted. You can talk about them, however you wanted. But like the love, the connection that everybody had in this building was deeper than anything.

And they just felt like they could not be stopped. It was a juggernaut, just ready to go. Every game, any adversity thrown their way, they were ready to. to break it and it was something I'd never been a part of. I just marveled every time I came in at the unselfish nature, you know, regardless of the player that we sat with that week, you know, whether it was sitting with JJ, which we did multiple times, whether it was sitting with Blake Corum or Donovan Edwards or Jalen Harold or Chris Jenkins or Zent, you know, Zach Zenter.

It didn't matter. They genuinely were completely unselfish and beholden to the team's goals, which I, I, Like, to be honest, it blew my mind. Yeah. I mean, the team, the team, the team, that's what we've been built off of and will continue to be that way. But it was something that I think when you work so hard, when you're so close to something two years in a row and you understand what it takes to get there, you'll do anything to get to that goal. And they set out, that's what they're going to do. Guys came back.

But it wasn't just guys coming back to do that. It was a mindset of this is how we're going to work to do that. Because I think in college football, in times you come back. back to go do something, but are you actually going to go do it? And the work that they put in, you know, in the darkness when nobody was there to go attack that moment was something that I had never seen. And that's what really led it to those moments. The run late, Rose Bowl, epic Rose Bowl game. Yeah. I mean, my goodness, what a great game. And then kind of a, what I would categorize as the prototypical Michigan victory over Washington. You know, it was just

you were going to wear them down and wear them down. Yeah. Wear them down and then wear them down some more. The CFP run, you know, what was that like internally? Something I'd never been a part of. You knew that the team's preparation was a little different. And we adjusted some things from our standpoint and coach's standpoint, how we approached bowl practice to make sure we wouldn't learn out.

Versus the previous seasons? Yeah, versus the previous. Just a couple of different things of, you know, whether it's meeting times and more time. for themselves, a little bit, you know, practice times adjusting, still kept the physicality in what we did, but we just adjusted a little bit. And that helped, but I think it was really the player's mindset and how they approached everything. Like, it's funny. People talk about the reaction to the Alabama, you know, seeing the Alabama, like, when those cameras turned off,

the boys were like, that's who we wanted. That's what we wanted to do. And we wanted, you know, to be the best. They always said, you got to beat the best. And they've been the king of the hill for a long time. I know Georgia is won two national championship, but Nick had six of them. So you knew if you wanted to get to the top, you had to face a team like that to get there. And they were excited for that game

and ready and the preparation that they had throughout that month was super special. I mean, I'd be in the office at 10 o'clock, and I'd see guys in the film and I'm watching film, doing this, watching cutups, texting me at night, hey, coach, what about this look? What about this look?

What are we doing here? and it was something that I'd never seen. All that's well and good, especially, you know, you can talk about prep, you can talk about mindset, you can talk about culture, but when it has to manifest, and you're down, and there's under four minutes to go, and it's 20 to 13, and you've got a drive on the Bama defense

just to tie the game up. Yeah. You know, walk me through the last drive. Yeah, two instances will always be held forever in my mind, really three. So before that drive, I've never really nervous to call a drive, never really, like, anxious.

That drive I was looking around. I looked at the clock. I looked at the time. I said, this is, like, the most important drive in, like, Michigan football history. That's how I thought of it.

And I looked up to the sky and asked my grandpa, like, hey, pops, need some help here. Help me out. Love you. And I never forget, I was walking,

and all the linemen, strapping their helmets on, and JJ comes up to me, He said, hey, pops, we got you. And I was like, oh, yeah, we're about to go score on this drive. And we had been held, like, we've been moving the ball a little bit, but not as much. And that drive, we went down and scored it in the fourth and two call. Yeah.

So we ran it, had a play action on third and two with origin the game. It didn't work out. They had it covered. And it was fourth and two, and I knew coach was going to say, go for it. And fourth and two, I already knew what call we were going to do. I knew the picker. I knew what we were going to do, knew how it was. And it had set up.

We'd shifted in motion and made it look the same. The whole game, it ran duo. And then they were calling out run. Yeah. And then Blake pops open and, you know, we just go down the field. And then Roman gets the block in the back. Some guys are like, oh, no, no, we're here coming back? I'm like, no, no, I think we still got the first down.

And we got the first down called the run option with JJ. We hadn't ran that all game. And it was set up. I was like, okay, this is the time. Then came back to a play action that we actually called. earlier in the game, but the route spacing wasn't right. We fixed it on the sideline, and then Roman popped open and made an incredible catch, made the guy miss as he landed.

And then the play that I called second, I was actually going to call first, but I got a little closer. And then all of a sudden called the play action, the Roman and slipped out, and it was a touchdown. So that drive will hold true forever in my mind of how it went down in the time and what happened to result. So now we move forward. And you are now the head coach. And you enter this realm, you know, for us that analyze the sport from afar, we've seen, you know, your rivals, Ryan Day, you know, promoted from within.

We saw Lincoln Riley promoted from within. We saw it with David Shaw when Jim Harbaugh left Stanford promoted from within. And yet none of those guys had to do what you're about to do, which is take over for the reigning national champions. Last time that happened was Frank Solich when Tom Osborne stepped away in the late 90s from Nebraska. So do you even let that weigh on you? Does that register? Or are you more just focused on the business at hand? Yeah, it doesn't weigh on me that. I mean, I think about it, but I'm not going to let it put pressure on me. I just want to get better every day. That's it. Just work on this process. We talk about that still with the players and not going to let it drain me or try to think about that too much. It's going to work on trying to get better at what I can do every single day to make this team the best they am. What's most important to you about your identity?

Because I'll be real honest. Nobody succeeds trying to emulate someone that they were mentored by. It doesn't happen. You look at all the coaches that left Bill Belichick or Nick Sabin. The only guys that can be successful are the ones that just do it their way. I think that's what has made Ryan Day and Lincoln Riley so successful for what they've done. What's a key for you in just being coach more? Yeah, I'm not going to change.

I'm going to be who I've always been. I've always been a process-driven person. That's who I'm going to be. I'm not going to change that. And I'm going to put the players first. Always going to do that. And that's something being coach, you know, we're very close on together about how we did things.

Who this program was about was about the players. And even the philosophy of offense and defense. You know, I was very close with him and talked about how we did things on a daily basis, how we conducted our business, what the offense, what the defense, what special teams look like. So that philosophy on how we do things will, you know, reign true the same on how we did it last year and the years in the past because I had a big hand in that. But there'll be some different changes in what we do. But, you know, to my core, we're going to be physical, we're going to be tough. We're going to try to outlast people. We're going to be multiple in every phase.

But we're going to be fundamentally sound and balance what we do. I would be interested to what would we notice that's going to be different? I guess we're out to say. Not really sure that. That's incredible. You've had some great mentors. Played for Bob Stoops. Obviously coached here with Jim Harbaugh.

And then there's another guy that you and I share as a mentor. Men who taught me the game. Yeah. This guy named Sean Watson. He was the offense coordinator at Colorado. taught the game incredibly well and detail-oriented. He never just coached what was going on or even how to do it, but always why. Always why, right?

Even with all of his, I call him Wattsisms, you know. And he taught you were with him as a young coach at Louisville when he was the offensive coordinator for the Teddy Bridgewater years at Louisville. Can you tell me of those three guys maybe, Bob Stoop, Sean Watson, and Jim Harbaugh, what you're pulling from each of those guys? Yeah. From Bob, the initial love of the game is really where I started to get it even more. And really the initial love for loving your players, loving your program and how to run an organization.

It was just unmatched at the time for me, seeing him, seeing him in his element, I would say. Yeah. And what he did on a daily basis to make our team great, the motivational factors, and motivational speeches and things he would say to us on a daily basis were super special and stuff I'd never forget. And then I'd still talk to him. I still talk to all these guys, but for sure, you know, Coach Stoops, he's a legend. Somebody I'll never forget the things I learned from him.

I'll go to coach since it's most recent, man, just always will never be afraid to be different. You know, never be afraid to venture out and try things that you've never done just because they haven't been done or you haven't done it doesn't mean it's the right way just because you did it that way doesn't mean you should do it that way again like you know always challenge yourself and challenge other people and I think I really grew with coach in challenging myself but also challenging others in a positive way to make sure that we're doing it the best way for our players so that's probably what I've learned the most from coach and then just the style and organization how to run an organization from him because he did it unlike anybody's ever seen and then from

wants like the game of football like the game inside now on the gridiron of how it's taught how to be a great teacher because he was an amazing teacher as you know like yes dude was he's he's he still is but i mean he was so impactful as a teacher like soon as he'd start talking your eyes would just lock in on everything you'd say how to take notes how to do it like one that you should always be taking notes the detail to take notes like every little thing did you guys Have they had the three ring binders? Yeah, we had those. And then, like, we got to these computation books.

Right. So, like, he's the one that started me doing, using those computation books, and I still use them to this day, and now we just have blue ones. Man. But it's the tree of those coaches have taught me so much. And I continue to strive to pull from those guys, from our coaches, from different people. And when you start learning, you die in this business, so you got to keep learning. Last year, you had to be thrown into the fire.

You're the head coach against Penn State. You're the head coach against Ohio State. Is there anything that you learned that you definitely want to do differently based on those two games? You know, probably don't want to run the ball 30 few times in a row every game. Every game. Sharon, okay, you bring it up. You bring it up. If it works, keep doing it.

I loved that adjustment in the booth. And I see it just like you do. We haven't talked about this, by the way. So you're getting this raw. Chop Robinson. You guys are beat up a little bit on the offensive lines. So you're swinging out. Carson has to move out to right tackle.

You know, you're doing some things. Chop Robinson on the first two third downs of the game. He's beast. You guys just whiff and he hits JJ. Now, JJ got the ball out, so they weren't sacks. Yeah. I turned to the guys in the booth, namely Steve, who's my guy. I turned to him in the booth,

And I was like, I was like, they can't block chop Robinson. And immediately you went to seven offensive linemen on the field, got the extra gaps, just slowed the game now. You thought, okay, let's settle in. And then you ended up running the ball 32 straight times. And I was like, that is brilliant. That is brilliant. And you're telling me you don't want to do that?

Well, I'm not saying, like, I won't do it again because if it has to be done, we will. But it wasn't your plan. Wasn't the plan. It wasn't the plan at all. It just kind of happened that way. And at the end of the day, we're going to do whatever it takes to win. So if we got to do that, we will. Am I looking at the same thing you were?

It was like, oh, that guy's going to be a problem. He was coming off the ball fast, and it was loud. Yeah. And you had to change up to snack count, move the pocket, which we moved the pocket a little bit too and did some of that. But he was coming off the ball fast, salute to you chop. And he'll have a great career in the NFL. But you watched him every game.

It was like that. And especially at home at their place, he did a great job. timing up the snap count. So how to make an adjustment. But I also felt like we're getting that movement in the run game pretty well. And when you got two backs like we do, super cool to do that. But the coolest part about that is, you know, JJ, Roman, Cornelius, Colston, AJ. They just say, what do you need us to do to go win this game?

That's it. And I'm just like, this team is unbelievable. Like usually it would be like, oh, I want my catch a da-da-da-da. And I'm like, guys, let's just go win this game. They're like, we got you. Wow. We did. So.

All right. Take me to last year. What do you think your best play call was last year? Or what was your favorite play call? Favorite? Yes. Probably the halfback pass with Donovan and Ohio State. Oh, really?

Yeah. It's probably my favorite. I got a lot of favorites. It's hard, but it's hard. There's a lot. lot of good ones from last year. The fourth and two against Alabama. Yeah, the fourth and two was good.

Probably the play action on the goal in the low reds on the Roman to tie the game up in, yeah, in regulation. That was probably, that's probably my favorite. My second favorite would be the first touchdown to Blake, the mesh, where we threw it out of the backfield to him. Yeah. Because that's something that the whole team knew was going to get called. at that moment at that time. We talked about like, the ball gets inside the 10.

Here it comes. It's coming. You can call it. Like, JJ, you can call it. He looked at me. The ball got, we ran like a end around to Samaj on the left hash,

went to the right hash. It got inside the nine. JJ looked at me like, and he was like, I was like, yeah, got it. He knew what wristbanded was and did it. Everybody knew. Everybody knew.

You guys have a ton of new faces moving forward. your first season. College football is changing. We've got a totally new Big Ten conference. There's a completely new 12-team college football playoff. You guys have a new strength coach from within, a new coordinator on both sides of the ball,

but within the same system, a new head coach, but from within. And you're going to have 10 new starters on offense. Lots of new faces. Yep. How do you maintain the level of excellence that has been set here over the last couple of years. Yeah, we're going to continue to work, just work, work as hard as we can every single day.

Don't look at the prize. Don't look at the games down the field look at right now and do whatever we can do today to get better. We know we've got great talent here on both sides of the ball. We've built it to sustain and not be up and down. So super excited for what the players have done this spring. I'll tell you, it's been a physical spring. It's been a fun spring. Guys get after it.

And it's like sometimes you've got to pull them away. Like guys, we can't just keep pounding on each other like this. But it's a great team to be around. It's a good problem to have. Great problem. Great problem. Great problem. Sharon Moore.

Thank you for your time, man. Best of luck. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate it. You got it. Absolutely.