Jake Butt stresses urgency in Michigan coaching search: 'They have to act quickly'

Michigan is now searching for its next head coach following the news the Sherrone Moore was fired as Wolverines head coach on Wednesday afternoon. He was fired with cause engaging in an alleged inappropriate relationship with a Michigan staffer.

Jake Butt, a former All-American tight end for the Wolverines, sent a message to the higher-ups in the Michigan athletic department during an appearance on the Big Ten Network. He called for them to act fast in naming Moore’s replacement.

“For (AD Warde Manuel), there’s going to be a lot of sleepless nights going forward,” Butt said on Wednesday night. “They have to act quickly to start figuring out who’s going to be the next head coach at Michigan going forward. Just given the calendar of college football, the portal opening the timing, all of those different things, makes it a really challenging time to be looking for a head coach.”

The timing of Moore’s firing is less than ideal. The NCAA transfer portal is set to open on Jan. 2 and many players are already announcing their intentions to leave their current program once it’s open.

Many of the coaches who were being looked at for high-profile head coaching vacancies have already been swooped up. That being said, Michigan is a sought-after job and is a program that has the reputation, history, and most importantly, the resources to be one of the best teams in college football on a yearly basis.

For now, it will be Biff Poggi stepping in to lead the Wolverines into the Citrus Bowl as interim head coach. He’s 2-0 as acting head coach this season, and is someone who Butt sees as being able to galvanize this Michigan team.

“This is just a challenging time, and it’s an uncertain time,” Butt said. “It’s in that specific time that you need strong leadership. The benefit for Michigan is they have a guy in the name of Biff Poggi, who is the perfect guy to talk to the locker room, to be able to face the team and answer challenging questions. To answer the staff, too. The assistants, this is a tough time for them as well.

“When you talk to the players, the first thing that they say is they love Biff Poggi as a human being, and he loves them back. That’s important in this time.”

Michigan will move forward, keeping its focus on the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs. Texas on New Year’s Eve. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET live on ABC.