“I don’t see it as a sign of weakness”: Sherrone Moore recalls emotional moment after first win in Michigan

Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore hasn’t been one to shy away from his emotions. While Moore was named the Wolverines' head coach ahead of the 2024 season, he had already served in the position for four games in 2023.

After winning against Penn State in place of the suspended Jim Harbaugh, emotions got the better of the then-offensive coordinator, who couldn’t fight back the tears in the postgame interview. In an appearance on “Next Up With Adam Breneman” on Friday, Moore opened up and talked about that moment.

“For me, that moment was like ‘man, I got the chance to represent this program as the head coach of Michigan on a huge stage, with these players and with this staff, for this program, for the alumni, for everybody. And I wear my emotions on my sleeves so I wasn’t going to hide it, and I don’t see it as a sign of weakness,” Sherrone Moore said (29:13).

The current Michigan head coach also recalled the journey to make it to that point. Moore had already spent seven seasons on the Wolverines’ staff. Going through that journey also hit Moore hard at that moment.

“That was in my seventh year, so there was a lot of hard work, a lot of long nights, and I mean, there were nights where (we) sleep here, nights where you’re here, you’re doing everything you can to make sure you cross every ‘T’, dot every ‘I’, make sure you’re in the position to win,” Sherrone Moore said.

The Wolverines won all four games with Moore at the helm in 2023, keeping the team in the CFP race and eventually winning the national championship.

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Sherrone Moore praises Bryce Underwood

Perhaps the biggest off the field win in the Sherrone Moore era was flipping 5-star quarterback Bryce Underwood from LSU to Michigan. The Belleville High School quarterback hasn’t been in Ann Arbor for long but he’s already made an impression on his head coach. Moore praised Underwood in the above interview.

“The kid is an amazing human being. He is extremely selfless. He’s extremely humble. And all he wants to do is work, that’s all he wants to do. So you see this number one player in the country, you have this vision, what it could be, what he is. He is the exact opposite of a prima donna,” Sherrone Moore said (32:22 onwards).

Underwood is expected to compete with former Fresno State signal caller Mikey Keene for the starting quarterback job. The Wolverines are also recruiting strongly to add more talent to the roster in the coming seasons.

After finishing the 2024 season with an 8-5 record, there are high expectations for the team to turn it around this season. Underwood’s recruitment is a big reason why.