In a stunning turn of events on Wednesday, the 18th-ranked Michigan Wolverines fired head coach Sherrone Moore for cause after he was found to have had an “inappropriate relationship” with a staffer (h/t ESPN’s Dan Wetzel).
Shortly afterward, Moore was arrested after police responded to a call about an alleged assault later in the day, the latest in a long line of unfortunate events that have taken place over the last few years for the program.
While this shocking turn of events is sure to cause multiple ripple effects going forward, the attention will immediate turn to Michigan’s coaching search as one of college football‘s blue bloods once again finds itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
During an appearance on Thursday’s edition of ESPN’s “Get Up,” former player and current analyst Dan Orlovsky believes Michigan should go after a big coaching hire to have any shot at competing with current Big Ten front-runners Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon.
Dan Orlovsky eyes multiple SEC coaches as potential replacements
“It’s got to be big. This is not something where you just go find a coach that you think is good,” Orlovsky said. “Because you won’t chase down those other programs with just a guy. … Some of those names that are on lists are just good coaches. This has to be (Alabama head coach Kalen) DeBoer. I don’t care about extensions if I’m Michigan. Clark Lea at Vanderbilt, just signed an extension. Don’t care, I’m making that call. Mike Elko at Texas A&M, just signed an extension. Don’t care, I’m making that call. If you’re Michigan, this has to be a big name that gets you into the living room of, ‘Well, (Ohio State) has Ryan Day. Well, we have Clark Lea. (Oregon) has Dan Lanning, but we’ve got Mike Elko.’ Extensions don’t matter.”