ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jim Harbaugh is gone, and he took everything but the furniture in the lobby of Schembechler Hall.
Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but Harbaugh has a large contingent of Michigan coaches and staffers joining him with the Los Angeles Chargers. As a result, new coach Sherrone Moore has spent his first three weeks on the job interviewing coaches and rebuilding his staff. With that task nearing completion, this is a good time to answer a few questions about the new era of Michigan football.
Note: Reader questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
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The contents of the trophy case aside (which is a big aside), did Jim Harbaugh leave the Michigan football program in a better place than it was when he became head coach in 2015? — Peter B.
Yes. Absolutely. But it’s not a ridiculous question, which is why I chose it to lead off the mailbag.
The answer isn’t as simple as comparing Michigan’s 15-0 national championship team to the 5-7 squad Harbaugh inherited from Brady Hoke. Michigan’s 2013 recruiting class, which finished No. 4 nationally, included Jourdan Lewis, Jake Butt, Maurice Hurst and Delano Hill, all NFL players. The following year, Michigan signed Jabrill Peppers, Mason Cole and Chase Winovich. Having those budding stars on the roster was a big part of Michigan’s early success under Harbaugh.
Moore is inheriting a talented roster, too, led by cornerback Will Johnson, tight end Colston Loveland and defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. Even with 18 players headed to the NFL combine, the cupboard is hardly barren. Harbaugh’s last two recruiting classes finished just outside the top 15 in the 247Sports Composite, which means the Wolverines have talent in the pipeline. Is it enough to keep Michigan in the hunt for Big Ten championships and College Football Playoff appearances? We’re going to find out.
All of this raises an interesting philosophical question: Is it better to take over a struggling program with the potential to be great or a winning program that’s been overachieving relative to its history? There are pros and cons to both, but for a coach in the latter scenario, there’s no low-hanging fruit. Michigan was already maximizing its talent. Moore can only hope to sustain that while trying to elevate Michigan’s recruiting a notch or two from where it was under Harbaugh.
I still think Michigan is better off than it was nine years ago, primarily because of the winning culture Harbaugh instilled. But when you look at the whole picture – the NCAA investigations, the roster turnover and the coaching exodus, plus the expectations created by Harbaugh — it’s clear that Moore will have to make his own momentum.
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As experienced as Wink (Martindale) is at coaching, I’m worried that he hasn’t recruited any high schoolers in over 20 years. Does Moore account for that in the rest of his hires on the defensive side? Does he focus on guys that he knows will be solid recruiters to make up for any shortcomings by the new DC? — Jake P.
I don’t expect Martindale to be a huge presence in recruiting, but I’m not sure Michigan needs that from its defensive coordinator. Jesse Minter and Mike Macdonald were there to design and call the defense, and any recruiting they did was a bonus. I suspect it will be similar with Martindale.
To Jake’s point, it’s important to surround Martindale with position coaches who can recruit the players he needs to make his defense successful. Michigan is in the process of doing that with its other hires on defense. If you look at the coaches being targeted for these jobs, they all have ties to Moore, not necessarily to Martindale. Greg Scruggs played for Louisville when Moore was a coach there. Stephen Adegoke — who was targeted for the defensive backs coach job but is staying in the NFL, per multiple reports — was at Michigan for one year with Moore, as was Brian Jean-Mary, who also coached with Moore at Louisville.
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The staff is still being finalized, but Moore seems to know what he wants from these positions. He’s going after coaches who are either established recruiters, young up-and-comers or some combination of both. That seems like the right direction for Michigan’s defense under a veteran NFL coordinator.
What’s the story on Mike Hart? Would love to see him back as RB coach. Should he get the co-OC title? – Gregory R.
I don’t know. No one I’ve talked to knows, either. In lieu of speculating, I’ll just say that Hart has earned the right to do what’s best for his future.
Hart came back to Michigan in a time of need and coached three of the best running back groups in Michigan history. Blake Corum was going to be great regardless, but Hart had a big role in his development. To me, the real testament is the way Hart handled things when Corum was getting most of the touchdowns and Donovan Edwards was struggling. It would have been easy for Edwards to check out, but he stayed patient and came up huge in the national championship game.
Hart has said he wants to be a head coach. Getting a coordinator job would be a logical next step, and even if he had a co-coordinator role at Michigan, it’s likely that Kirk Campbell would be calling plays. I don’t know what that means for Hart or what other factors might be at play, but Michigan is willing to give him time to figure it out.
In addition to QB, what are the Wolverines’ biggest needs during the spring portal period, and how big is it for Coach Moore to fill some of those? If they don’t land a veteran QB, to whom do they turn next season? The true freshman? — Bob K.
Quarterback is definitely at the top of the list. I’d also throw in wide receiver, considering Semaj Morgan is the only player there with significant experience. Adding an experienced cornerback, as Michigan did last year with Josh Wallace, would fill a need on defense, as would another edge to offset what Michigan lost from Braiden McGregor and Jaylen Harrell.
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As far as I know, Michigan is still awaiting definitive word on a seventh year of eligibility for Jack Tuttle. I’d expect a wide-open competition in the spring with everyone who’s eligible, including Alex Orji, Jayden Denegal and Jadyn Davis. Orji has already shown he can be a dynamic runner. If he can be a capable passer as well, there’s a lot Michigan could do in building an offense around him.
Davis is the wild card to me. He’s more advanced than the typical freshman, which could put him on a faster timeline. Once Michigan gets through spring practice, we should have a better sense for how ready he is to compete for the starting job in preseason camp.
Call your shot early, Austin. Who will be the next breakout player for the football team? — Matt M.
I could take the easy route and pick someone like Morgan, who showed flashes of brilliance as a freshman and should get a high volume of touches next season. That’s a little too obvious, right? Maybe I’ll give some love to the offensive line and pick Giovanni El-Hadi. He was a top-100 recruit in the Class of 2021 and would have been a starter by now if not for the long careers of Zak Zinter and Trevor Keegan. With both gone to the NFL, the path is wide open for El-Hadi to be the leader of Michigan’s offensive line.
Several readers asked about Michigan’s plans to replace the six offensive linemen who are off to the NFL. El-Hadi, Myles Hinton, Greg Crippen, Raheem Anderson and Northwestern transfer Josh Priebe are the first five names that come to mind for me, with Andrew Gentry also in the mix. That will be a big drop-off in experience, but the talent is there for Michigan to rebuild quickly.
Michigan’s 30-point hoops loss to Illinois was on Peacock, as were some other losses. I can’t justify spending $5-$10/month to ruin my afternoon or evening watching this miserable basketball team lose games. Given the size of Michigan’s fan base, does the crappiness of this basketball team and the size of the potential Michigan fan base undercut the economics of these streaming deals the B1G cut? — Paul S.
I’m sure NBC and Peacock would love for Michigan to be better in men’s basketball. Michigan would love that, too. The value of these deals is in the brands, not necessarily in the year-to-year performance of particular teams.
Michigan’s basketball brand has taken a hit, no doubt. I’m sure there are many fans who would have paid for a streaming service to watch Michigan basketball during the John Beilein years, but I can’t imagine many doing it right now. If you ask the NBC execs, they would say the value is in the whole bundle: NFL playoffs, Olympics, Big Ten football, the occasional Caitlin Clark game and, yes, Michigan basketball, if you can stomach it. Not many people have the appetite for that right now, but these things are cyclical, and I doubt Michigan’s current struggles are doing too much damage to the bottom line.
How many wins does Sherrone need with Michigan’s brutal schedule for next season to be a success? Eight or nine? — Jonathan V.
On the bright side, Michigan’s trip to Washington in October doesn’t look quite as daunting now that Kalen DeBoer is at Alabama. Has there ever been a national championship rematch that less resembles the original? Maybe not, but those games against Texas, Oregon and Ohio State aren’t getting any easier.
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I reserve the right to change this answer many times between now and September, but 9-3 feels like a good baseline for Year 1 under Moore. Ten wins would be a clear success; eight would be vaguely disappointing. But, as always, it matters which games are part of that win total. If Michigan finds a way to beat Ohio State for the fourth year in a row, it’s hard to see how next year could be a disappointment. If the Wolverines lose all three of their biggest games, a nine-win season won’t feel as fulfilling.
(Top photo: Thomas Shea / USA Today)
