At a news conference on Saturday morning, Michigan Athletic Directory Warde Manuel formally presented Sherrone Moore as the football program’s 21st head coach.
Manuel gave a five-minute speech thanking Jim Harbaugh for coming to Ann Arbour and for suggesting Moore for the position. He also described how it became evident from talks with players and assistant coaches that Moore was the best candidate for the position.
This is Manuel’s entire speech:
Before I start, let me congratulate the Ford family on behalf of Michigan. Coach Dan Campbell’s nephew Rod Wood and Brad Holmes are both past ADs. Aidan Hutchinson, Graham Glasgow, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and all of the Lions are our excellent Wolverines who are on that team. Wishing you luck on tomorrow. There will be cheers from every Wolverine for you.
Jim spoke extensively about Sherrone in our interview on Wednesday as well as before and during the season. discussed and actually provided me with his perspective on why he was our selection. For his nine years of service and his contributions to Michigan football and our excellence, I would want to thank Jim. We shall always remember him. I want him to know that even though we will be rooting for him and hoping for great success with the Chargers, we will miss him, Sarah, and the family.
If the byes go through, Sherrone and I would want to have him return this year as a captain of a game and, as he says, take a slow, long bow in front of all the spectators. Thus, I thank Jim.
The reason for our current presence here. I would like to express my gratitude to President Ono for his considerate cooperation and involvement during the entire process. He made time in his schedule to return to campus and have a face-to-face meeting with Sherrone. That was really important to us both. I am grateful to the members of the Board who phoned me and offered me encouragement and support. They all seemed to know where I was heading, too. They offered a great deal of assistance. I express my gratitude to Sarah Hubbard and Paul Brown for their presence, as well as to the Regents who called and spoke kindly to me.
I would also like to extend a warm greeting and gratitude to all of the coaches, staff, and student-athletes who could make it here with us today. During my meetings with the faculty, coaches, student-athletes, and staff, I was consistently impressed by the group’s attentiveness and enthusiasm for this university.
Funny anecdote, in my opinion, at least. One student-athlete was leaving with me on Thursday after I had meetings with all of the staff and athletes. You know who we want, he remarked as he took me to the side. And I responded, “I do.” In actuality, we never switched names, so hopefully I got it correct.
However, it gives me great pride to introduce Sherrone Moore as our incoming head football coach from this position. Over his six years on staff, Sherrone has proven to be a man of excellent character and leadership. And by above and beyond balancing duties as offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and acting head coach, I mean other things. Beyond being a fantastic instructor, he’s a nice person.
He demonstrated his ability to lead a team directly. Jim and I told him he would probably be heading the team 45 minutes before the team left the Penn State hotel. I officially informed him that he had approximately 90 minutes to spare before the game began on the field. He carried it out with remarkable composure and showed no signs of fear. What if 32 consecutive run plays were called? Bo, my old coach, was grinning all day and after the game while watching you from paradise. He calmed down athletes in extremely stressful situations, and they performed brilliantly on the football field.
