One sentence stuck out during Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore’s last spring press conference on Monday:
“We’ll see.”
For the majority of the Wolverines’ players and coaches, if not all of them, this offseason has brought waves of uncertainty and upheaval; Moore, probably more than any other, has experienced this.
Moore has coached Michigan through a coaching staff upheaval, complete with various legal difficulties, and a significant roster turnover in his short three months as head coach. He doesn’t have a certain starting quarterback. During spring practice, one of his top returners and leaders sustained a serious injury. Not a single job on his coaching staff has been the same since the previous season, and he lost his entire starting offensive line.
Moore’s program is currently on probation as well, having paid fines to the NCAA for prior infractions. There are therefore a lot of unanswered questions about everything from coaches to players to the program as a whole, which leads to a lot of “we’ll see” responses.
It could also be easy to overlook the fact that Moore is still getting used to a very significant change in his own life as a head coach, given the apparently unending uncertainty surrounding the defending national champions.
Moore remarked on Monday, “It’s just different in that there isn’t as much football.” “I used to spend a lot of time watching football on two large screens while sitting in a room, but these days it’s more about running an organization on a daily basis and maintaining consistency in our procedures. For me, that has therefore been the largest change.
Yes, Moore served as interim head coach for a few key games during the previous campaign. It wasn’t nearly the same as taking on the role full-time, even though he may have had a taste of what was to come.
As Moore stated, there has been a major shift in his primary duties. Even last year, when he made appearances as head coach, they were merely appearances. He had to get used to running the entire program after taking over in January after years of watching football nonstop and working on the ground.
It’s been fantastic, Moore remarked. Every day, there are things that happen that are different and that you are not responsible for. I’m thrilled about everything that has been happening and I just want to keep moving forward.
One of the few things that has remained constant for Moore is his ultimate aim, which he is working toward while he continues to advance and begins to address some of the unanswered questions.
“The objectives never change,” Moore stated. “We want to defeat our opponents, win the Big Ten, defeat Ohio State, advance to the postseason, and emerge victorious.” Therefore, our objectives and methods of doing things will not change. There are differences among the people.
As spring practice draws to an end, there are still many questions that remain unsolved. The starting quarterback is who? What specific information is the Wolverines seeking through the transfer portal? Is Rod Moore coming back this year? On both the offensive and defensive lines, who will step up? What is this year’s team going to be like in comparison?
All you can do is wait and see.
