Michigan promotes offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to replace Jim Harbaugh as head coach

Michigan acting coach Sherrone Moore reacts to a video replay during the first half of the team's NCAA college football game against Ohio State, Nov. 25, 2023, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Michigan hired Moore on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, to replace coach Jim Harbaugh, giving the 37-year-old offensive coordinator an opportunity to lead college football's winningest program. The school made the move two days after Harbaugh bolted to lead the Los Angeles Chargers. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Michigan hired Sherrone Moore on Friday to replace coach Jim Harbaugh, giving the 37-year-old offensive coordinator an opportunity to lead college football's winningest program and the current national champion.

The school unsurprisingly elevated Moore just two days after Harbaugh bolted to lead the Los Angeles Chargers with a five-year deal that gives him another chance to chase a Super Bowl title.

“I want to thank coach Harbaugh for the faith that he has displayed in me over the past six years and for supporting my growth as a football coach during that time,” Moore said in a statement.

Moore's contract is for five years, with a starting annual salary of $5.5 million, guaranteed annual raises and several bonuses for accomplishments such as conference championships ($500,000), College Football Playoff appearances ($200,000) and national championships ($1 million).

Moore is a first-time head coach — at least formally.

Michigan went 4-0, including wins over Ohio State and Penn State, while Moore was filling in for Harbaugh as he served two separate suspensions for potential NCAA rules violations during the 2023 season.

Moore becomes the first Black head coach in the history of Michigan football.

"You’ve already got a glimpse of the shining star that he is,” Harbaugh said before Michigan beat Washington for the national championship last month. “He’s just phenomenal, so smart, works so hard at it.”

Moore also served a one-game suspension during the 2023 season related to a recruiting infractions NCAA case. The NCAA's investigation into allegations of sign-stealing and in-person scouting — which resulted in the late-season three-game suspension of Harbaugh by the Big Ten — has also yet to be resolved.

Harbaugh denied being involved in the sign-stealing scheme and there has been no evidence made public to show Moore, who became Michigan's primary play-caller this season, was involved.

Michigan’s offensive line has been among the best in the country under Moore, helping the traditional power restore its glory with a national title and three straight Big Ten championships.

Retaining Moore may help the Wolverines maintain some continuity in the post-Harbaugh area with many of his assistants and staffers staying on, and potentially keeping most of the team's key returning players from transferring.

Michigan will be breaking in a new quarterback next season because J.J. McCarthy entered the NFL draft, but running back Donovan Edwards and tight end Colston Loveland plan to return along with cornerback Will Johnson and defensive tackles Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham.

Moore joined Harbaugh’s staff in 2018 as tight ends coach on the recommendation of Dan Enos, who spent about six weeks after the 2017 season as a member of Harbaugh’s staff before leaving to be an Alabama assistant.

Moore was promoted to offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator in 2021, when the Wolverines bounced back from a 2-4, pandemic-shortened season and began a three-year run of excellence that culminated in the school's first national title in 26 years.

“I have been preparing my entire coaching career for this opportunity and I can’t think of a better place to be head coach than at the University of Michigan,” Moore said in the statement. “We will do everything each day as a TEAM to continue the legacy of championship football that has been played at Michigan for the past 144 years. Our standards will not change.”

Moore, a Kansas native, has been regarded as a rising star in recent years.

The former Oklahoma offensive lineman started his coaching career in 2009 as a graduate assistant at Louisville, where he was later promoted to coach tight ends. He left Louisville to lead Central Michigan’s tight ends in 2014 and Harbaugh hired him in 2018 to coach players at the same position.

“Sherrone has proven to be a great leader for our football program, especially the offensive line and players on the offensive side of the football,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said. “He is a dynamic, fierce and competitive individual who gets the best out of the players he mentors. The players love playing for him and being with him in the building every day."

Michigan is one of the most desirable jobs in college football, but Manuel and President Santa Ono decided to stay in-house to replace their successful coach, a move that has been common among powerhouse programs in recent years.

Oklahoma promoted Lincoln Riley when Bob Stoops retired in 2017; Ohio State elevated Ryan Day to replace Urban Meyer after the 2018 season; and Notre Dame hired Marcus Freeman when Brian Kelly left after the 2021 season.

Michigan has also done well when sticking with Michigan men to coach the Wolverines. Before this season, longtime assistant Lloyd Carr in 1997 was the last head coach to lead Michigan to a national title.

The last two times the football program hired coaches from elsewhere, it didn’t work out well with Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke.

“Sherrone stepped up this fall and served as the interim head coach when the program and especially the team needed him,” Manuel said. “Sherrone handled that situation in a way that sealed my already growing confidence in him. He didn’t make it about him, it was always about the team!”

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— AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.