Michigan HC Sherrone Moore reviews coaching staff, adjustments made this season

The Michigan Wolverines are at 5-4 this season, which even some of the most pessimistic of fans did not see coming. That’s something head coach Sherrone Moore and his staff are working to get corrected as soon as possible.

Saturday against Oregon, the Wolverines fell into another early hole and went into the locker room down 28-10 at halftime after some missed opportunities. The team continued to fight in the second half, but missed a few more chances to bring the nation’s top-ranked team within striking distance.

Moore evaluated his team’s performance with the benefit of a few days of film study prior to his Monday press conference.

“I think you saw two different halves,” Moore told the media. “You saw the first half where it didn’t feel like there was enough energy, enough excitement. I thought the team [was] prepared and mentally ready to play. We just didn’t execute. But the second half, I felt like it came out. But what you saw was a test of what the culture is. The guys never quit. Our players kept fighting to the end and had many chances to make it a one-score game. Had a possible pick. I thought it was a great call by Wink with the alignment and movement. Giving them a show of one look and giving them another. Almost created a pick and then had a chance to get down in the red zone and score a touchdown. But credit to them, they’re a good football team. So it’s credit to them as well.”

Moore tends to keep criticism of his staff and players behind closed doors, and simply preached improvement when asked to evaluate how the program has performed through nine games this season.

“I think we just got to continue to get better,” Moore said. “We’ve got to find ways to get better in every way. We are where we are with our record. But we’ve got a chance to go fight and go win some more games. So that’s the goal.”

There has been a bit of trial and error with Moore in his first season at the helm of the Michigan football program, and there have been adjustments made in how the team practices and other operations, he says.

“We’ve changed different practice things and schedules of how we progress through practice,” Moore said. “I mean, as you go through the year, you get more banged up and do different things. So you’ve got to adjust the players. We’ll keep adjusting and making the best game plans available to go win.”

Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell has taken most of the jabs from media and fans this season, but Moore believes Michigan’s entire offensive operation has to be better. Moore says Campbell will continue to call the plays and there has not been a discussion of pivoting off of that.

“It’s got to be a collective effort on how we do this and how we formulate the offense,” Moore said. “So we’ve got to just be better as a whole group. It’s not just him. It’s got to be everybody. Everybody’s got to be a team, and we’ve got to do everything together. So we’ll figure out what’s the best ways for us to continue to move the football and be successful.”

Moore says that Michigan will continue to play hard to fight through its miscues and try to win games down the stretch.

“The record’s not where we want it to be, but I love watching the fight. Like I just said, you go in the second half of that game, and a lot of teams were laid down. A lot of teams just said, ah, it’s over. Well, we told the team, you know, we want to go out three and out. Then we want to go down and score, and that’s what they did. So it’s a lot of pride to do that, and that’s the standard that you want to live up to. So the record’s not where it is, but we want to keep fighting.”