U-M's Sherrone Moore Near Bottom Of CBS Sports' Big Ten Coach Rankings

While Michigan's hire of Moore was met with mostly praise, the folks over at CBS Sports are taking a wait-and-see approach to the first-time head coach...

Matt Lounsberry | Jul 3, 2024

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore watches a play during the second half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 20, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Michigan Wolverines

There was massive change to the coaching landscape throughout football last season, and Michigan was one of the headliners on that front as head coach Sherrone Moore replaces Jim Harbaugh in 2024.

As part of their annual practice, CBS Sports released a ranking of all 68 "Power 4" head coaches after all the dust settled from a wild coaching carousal. It's fair to say that the voters in CBS' poll are taking a wait-and-see approach to Moore as a first-time head coach. The 38-year-old comes in at No. 52 out of 68 coaches, which places him at No. 15 (out of 18) among Big Ten head coaches. Here's what CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli had to say regarding Moore:

"We don't typically see first-year coaches start this high in the rankings, but Moore isn't your typical first-year coach. He served four games as head coach last season thanks to Jim Harbaugh's various transgressions and won them all, including victories against Penn State and Ohio State. Plenty of coaches are ranked ahead of him without wins that impressive, but it'll be interesting to see how Moore performs as captain of a ship coming off a national title."

Ranking first-time head coaches is difficult. We've seen several success stories at big programs in recent years, like Lincoln Riley taking over for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, Dabo Swinney being promoted from within at Clemson and, yes, even Ryan Day replacing Urban Meyer at Ohio State (insert "born on third base" joke). However, for every one of those guys there are multiple star coordinators from the past who weren't cut out for head coach jobs.

Moore will have every opportunity to prove himself at Michigan. He inherited one of the top programs in the country, but also had to make several tough hires after nearly all of the Wolverines' defensive coaches followed Harbaugh to Los Angeles. The Wolverines return a loaded defense this season, and a pair of key leaders offensively in tailback Donovan Edwards and tight end Colston Loveland.

Much of Michigan's identity will remain similar to what it was under Harbaugh, but Moore will be able to shape the program in his image over time. After a slow start on the recruiting trail amidst all the offseason change, Michigan has rebounded with a strong month of June and could follow that up with a productive July.

It's too early to tell the caliber of head coach Moore will be at Michigan, but after leading the Wolverines to four victories in four tries as interim head coach a season ago, including those wins over Penn State and Ohio State, there's plenty of reason for optimism in Ann Arbor.

How CBS Sports ranks each Big Ten head coach:

National Rank	Big Ten Rank	Head Coach	School
No. 2	No. 1	Ryan Day	Ohio State
No. 9	No. 2	Dan Lanning	Oregon
No. 10	No. 3	Lincoln Riley	USC
No. 11	No. 4	James Franklin	Penn State
No. 17	No. 5	Luke Fickell	Wisconsin
No. 18	No. 6	Kirk Ferentz	Iowa
No. 27	No. 7	Jonathan Smith	Michigan State
No. 29	No. 8	Matt Rhule	Nebraska
No. 31	No. 9	Jedd Fisch	Washington
No. 36	No. 10	Bret Bielema	Illinois
No. 39	No. 11	P.J. Fleck	Minnesota
No. 40	No. 12	Greg Schiano	Rutgers
No. 41	No. 13	Mike Locksley	Maryland
No. 43	No. 14	Curt Cignetti	Indiana
No. 52	No. 15	Sherrone Moore	Michigan
No. 53	No. 16	David Braun	Northwestern
No. 65	No. 17	Ryan Walters	Purdue
No. 68	No. 18	DeShaun Foster	UCLA