“Failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations.” The then-Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh, received a judgment from the NCAA in August 2024 for impermissible contact with recruits and players during the COVID-19 pandemic. Look at the brighter side of this news. A head coach went a step ahead to enroll the top prospects for his program. But a question arises here: if the charges are true, then it simply says how committed Harbaugh could have been to the recruiting process. So, for enrolling after his retirement, why did he not go aggressively? Why is Sherrone Moore struggling with an okay team this season? These brutal questions were raised by college football analysts.

On the latest episode of ‘The Audible With Stew & Bruce: A Show about College Football, Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman discussed why Harbaugh left Moore with a weak roster when he knew he was going to the NFL. “If Jim Harbaugh knows, and remember, he had flirted heavily with the NFL in the previous two years. If he’s sitting there knowing all the guys they’re going to lose, he’s probably going to have a very good chance to get a good head coach. Is he going to go out and recruit a quarterback from the portal, knowing I’m probably not going to be here?”

They suggested Harbaugh may have hesitated to put in extra effort to make strong recruiting. Ultimately, this led to Michigan’s current state under head coach Sherrone Moore. Then, they talked about Harbaugh’s lack of vision for Michigan’s future.

“I just think if you’re as long as you’re the head coach of Michigan or any team you know, you have a responsibility to make sure you have the best possible roster the next year, whether you’re going to be there or not. I think it’s hard to pin too much of this on Jim Harbaugh when it comes to the portal. So I think you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” 

They also thought of wearing Harbaugh’s shoes but, at the same time, highlighted that Harbaugh could have been more aggressive for the portal, which has set a tough job for Moore.“They basically have an entirely new offense, right? Probably, frankly, never realistic. I think they could lose their top six offensive linemen and have a good offense, but the quarterback’s the most glaring.” 

Furthermore, Stew and Bruce talked about the current scenario of the Wolverines team, pointing out possible recruitment missteps that might be affecting Moore’s current games. Especially their Offensive line; that’s the reason Moore’s is struggling with offensive challenges so far this season.

Sherrone Moore pointed out offensive turnovers

It’s been the first time since 2020 that Michigan football went through three losses. And for the first time since 2014, they struggled to score more than 7 points in a 7-21 loss to Illinois last week.

After facing three ranked teams in their last five games and their next matchup against Michigan State, Sherrone Moore finally has some answers about their shortcomings.

“Not happy with the record. Not happy with the losses,” Moore said, moving ahead with a 4-3 record. However, Michigan’s defense did quite a nice game, which held Illinois’s passing game to an extent, but the offense was pathetic. Look at last year’s record; Michigan was no. 1 offensive and now they are no. 117 out of 134 teams, which says a lot to the current team.

Now, the in-state rivalry game may not be the perfect time to find answers, but Moore has no choice. The schedule is going to get trickier with three of the four Big 10 playoff hopefuls facing the Wolverines in upcoming weeks,