Not everyone is built to inherit a defending National Championship team as a first-year head coach. But then again, not everyone is Sherrone Moore.
 
After Jim Harbaugh's departure to lead the Los Angeles Chargers following a national championship at his alma mater, Moore was named the University of Michigan's 21st head football coach on January 26, 2024.
 
Making this hire more monumental than a standard ascension, Moore is the first Black head coach in the program's storied history – a legacy that dates to 1879 and spans a college football-record 1,004 victories and 12 national titles.
 
It is a role, and opportunity, that Moore – a participant in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl Path to the Summit for emerging leaders from underrepresented populations – does not take lightly, especially given the historical context.
 
"It is an honor and privilege to represent the greatest university in the world as its head football coach," Moore said. "I have been preparing my entire coaching career for the opportunity to be a head coach and I can't think of a better place to do it than the University of Michigan.
 
"It means a great deal to me to be named the first Black head coach at Michigan and I do not take that lightly. I know there are others who look up to me and want to do the same thing that I have been able to accomplish. I want them to know that anything is possible if you work hard and pursue your dreams. I know that I will be the first of many future Black head coaches at Michigan and carrying on that legacy is what matters most."
 
A look at Moore's impressive resume at just 37 years old – making him Michigan's youngest head coach since Bump Elliott in 1957 – and it is easy to see why Director of Athletics Warde Manuel believed in Moore as the Wolverines' leader.
 
"Sherrone has demonstrated leadership abilities and high character throughout his six years on staff, above and beyond juggling many roles as an assistant coach, offensive coordinator and interim head coach within this complex program," Manuel said. "He proved firsthand that he could lead a team with poise and an innate ability to keep our players calm and focused.
 
"It is not lost on me that Sherrone is the first Black head coach of Michigan football, but it was not a factor in him earning the opportunity to lead this program full-time. This game is filled with incredible coaches and educators, and it is wonderful for our young people to observe highly successful people of color in prominent positions."
 
In addition to coaching the offensive line, Moore was the Wolverines' offensive coordinator during Michigan's perfect 15-0 season, culminating in the program's first national championship since 1997, in 2023-24.
 
He also stepped in as interim coach in two different stints this fall, including wins over Ohio State and Penn State. The recently completed season was Moore's sixth on the Michigan staff, including as offensive line coach and offensive coordinator the last three seasons.
 
Over that time, Michigan averaged 38.4 points per game and was a top 15 scoring unit in each of the last three seasons. His offensive line, which became the first program to win consecutive Joe Moore Awards in 2021-22 honoring the top unit in the nation, helped pave the way for a rushing offense that ranked in the top 15 twice and in the top two in rushing touchdowns in all three years.
 
Three of his offensive linemen garnered All-American honors, including Olusegun Oluwatimi, the 2022 Rimington Award winner and Michigan's first Outland Trophy recipient.
 
Michigan's second Joe Moore Award winning offensive line was in the trenches for the Wolverines when they played in the 2022 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl – the program's second of three consecutive CFP berths. Although the Wolverines came up short in the Fiesta Bowl's highest scoring game ever, Michigan was the first team to have a running back with 100+ rushing yards and two receivers with 100+ receiving yards in the same Fiesta Bowl since 2006.
 
"We did not get the outcome we wanted in the Fiesta Bowl, but it drove this team forward in 2023," Moore said. "We used that result as fuel to win the national championship. The overall experience of the Fiesta Bowl is outstanding. The entire staff and bowl volunteers did a great job working to make our program's time in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area a balance of fun while working toward gameday."
 
Prior to Moore's trip to Arizona for the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, he participated in the organization's Path to the Summit in May 2022. The Fiesta Bowl Path to the Summit originated in 2021 out of the knowing there was, and remains, a shortage of minorities in leadership positions throughout college athletics.
 
While at Path to the Summit, assistant football coaches and athletic administrators from underrepresented groups are invited to partake in panels and networking with Athletic Directors, Head Football Coaches and other industry leaders to prepare them for the next step in their careers.
 
Moore, part of the Path to the Summit's second class, is the first coach to ascend to a Head Coach position in the event's history.
 
"The Fiesta Bowl's Path to the Summit was a great professional and networking experience for me," Moore said. "There are lessons from that event that I have used in this transition to being a head coach. It has definitely aided in my career development."
 
When he mans the sideline in the Big House for his first official game as head coach in the 2024 season opener against Fresno State on August 31, Moore's moment will arrive. Leading college football's winningest program, coming off a national championship nonetheless, is a tall order, but if there is a coach who is ready for the task, it'd be Moore. After all, Moore has already made history.