Athlon Sports attempted to rank the Big Ten head coaches from 1-18. Last season, Jim Harbaugh was ranked in the top spot, but with Harbaugh off to the NFL, Athlon Sports’ new number one is Ohio State coach Ryan Day. Although he has suffered three losses in a row to Michigan, Day’s winning percentage gets him the top spot in the ranking.
So where does the Wolverines’ new head coach Sherrone Moore go? It’s tough to rank a new head coach, especially one that is 4-0 during his interim coaching career with wins at Penn State and home vs. Ohio State.
In this ranking, Moore was ranked No. 10.
Moore is a tough coach to rank going into the ’24 season. The Kansas native was considered a rising star in the assistant ranks over the last couple of years, guiding Michigan’s offensive line to a spot as the best in college football and for his work as the program’s offensive coordinator in ’23. Additionally, Moore had an impressive stint as the Wolverines’ interim coach last year, leading the team to a 4-0 record – including a win over Ohio State – with Jim Harbaugh suspended. The limited track record is impressive. But taking over and restocking a program that loses a good chunk of talent won’t be easy task. How Moore puts his stamp on the program in ’24 and beyond will be an interesting storyline to follow.
Moore is ahead of some experienced coaches such as Bret Bielema, PJ Fleck, Greg Schiano, and Mike Locksley — so Moore does have some respect as a first-year head coach. It feels like this is going to be a huge year for Moore as a coach trying to maintain Michigan’s winning ways — especially coming off of a national title.
Moore went out and added some key pieces from the transfer portal and the Wolverines return plenty of talent for Michigan to do some big things once again in 2024.
Athlon Sports’ top five were:
- Ryan Day – Ohio State
- Lincoln Riley – USC
- Dan Lanning – Oregon
- James Franklin – Penn State
- Kirk Ferentz – Iowa
