Why Kalen DeBoer Should Replace Sherrone Moore at Michigan

Ann Arbor is in a precarious situation, to say the least. Michigan fired Sherrone Moore on Wednesday night for actions outside of football. I don’t want to speculate on any unsubstantiated rumors. Still, the situation looks bleak for Moore and the Michigan football program if what is being reported is even close to the truth.

In a football sense, this is an absolute disaster for Michigan. It seems as though Michigan was aware of Moore’s off-the-field actions before national signing day occurred, and led signees to believe that Moore would continue to be the coach for the long haul. If that is the case, there could be a mass exodus of players decommitting from the program, which could also lead to a nasty transfer window for the Wolverines.

These rumors had been bouncing around online for a little while, so Michigan had to be aware of what was going on for a decent bit of time. If they waited this long to fire Moore, it means that a bit of a coaching search has been occurring in the background. The overall sentiment on Sherrone Moore across the college landscape is that he is not a good enough coach for the quality of program that is Michigan. That’s why they needed to find his replacement before they moved on from him, and if they weren’t able to find an elite replacement, they might try to weather the media storm they’d get with this news.

The perfect match for Michigan, and who I have heard will be their next coach, is Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer. Since he arrived in Tuscaloosa, Deboer has not seemed like a culture fit for the Tide. He’s continued to recruit well for Alabama, and he’s gotten them back in the playoffs in year two, but he doesn’t have the proper demeanor to be the head coach that follows Nick Saban.

However, he would be a match made in heaven for Michigan. The Wolverines are in a critical period for the health of their program. Since Jim Harbaugh left, success has also fled, and Michigan's recruiting and portal use have not been strong enough to keep them a national title contender. If Michigan isn’t able to bring in a DeBoer-level hire, players and recruits will enter into the portal.

There’s still one obvious thing that needs to be said: DeBoer is still the head coach of the premier program of college football. He’s a few weeks away from coaching a road playoff game against Oklahoma, and if he can avenge his regular-season defeat, it would put him in position to upset one-seed Indiana. Of course, he could also lose to Oklahoma, and Alabama would be in a terrible position. The best coaches available have already found new homes, and DeBoer’s seat would be red hot, with back-to-back 4-loss seasons. Something that never occurred during Nick Saban’s tenure.

If Alabama can find a DeBoer replacement, his departure is a best-of-both-worlds for them and Michigan. Alabama gets to move on from the guy they know isn’t a great culture fit, and Michigan finds a better head coach than Sherrone Moore. Finding that replacement would also be tricky for the Tide… they would have to give Lane Kiffin at least a call… right? This is what makes college football the best reality show on television.d