Sherrone Moore and Nick Saban might not seem like best buddies, but the younger coach love being able to lean on the legend in any way that might help.
Sherrone Moore is in just his second year as a head coach so he's obviously still learning a lot and he's doing it on one of the biggest stages in the sport. Because of that, he does everything he can to be a sponge when he's around veteran coaches and people who have done what what he's trying to do.
Earlier this week, he opened up about his relationship with none other than Nick Saban. Hearing directly from Moore that he regularly contacts the living legend was surprising to everyone in the Michigan media circle. We forget sometimes that being a coach is a job like any other. Newcomers to the profession are always looking for ways to improve and for Moore, one way is to bounce ideas off of experts like Saban.
"I try to call him probably every two months, a month," Moore said. "When you call Coach Saban, sometimes it's like, you don't know if he really wants to talk to you, but he does, like, once he starts talking, it's outstanding.
"I mean, why not take advice from somebody who you consider probably the GOAT of college football? I try to call some of the mentors, some of the people that I look up to, throughout months, throughout weeks."
Moore's reasoning is spot on. Obviously Sherrone had a chance to learn from Jim Harbaugh on a very personal level, but tapping into resources all around the profession is just smart practice. He seems to be in regular contact with Harbaugh and Saban. It's likely that he speaks to his former boss more often than Saban, but any communication is valuable for a new coach like Moore.
"I talked to Jim last week. Congrats to him on the win last night. I know he's happy about that," Moore said of his candid conversation with Harbaugh. "[With Saban] it's different advice, different things we're talking about, the travel, but also just talking about, in general, you know, as a football program, things that he looked at, things that he tried to change or not change and try to address throughout the year.
"So I'd be a fool not to seek the advice of somebody like Nick Saban if I could."
There are several reasons why the bond between Moore and Saban is a little surprising, but the most obvious one is that the last time they saw each other competitively, Michigan was beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl and advancing to the National Championship game. Once Moore explained how the connection happened, it made perfect sense.
"Coach [Biff] Poggi is obviously really close with him and one day I was like, 'You know, I'd love to get in touch with him.'
"I can't remember when this was. This might have been like — oh, I know what it was...it was after the Rose Bowl. So he really didn't want to talk to me after that. But we connected that February, I think, when I first got the job, and we talked a little bit. Just as much as I could try to get as much information from him as possible, and that's really where the connections are."