Sherrone Moore's Big Decision

Coach Moore is all smiles in '25

The biggest headline of the college football offseason was arguably when the Michigan Wolverines landed Bryce Underwood, the #1 recruit in the nation, to be their QB of the future. The biggest question then became: when does the future become the present? If I was Sherrone Moore, which I am not, I wouldn't handle the current Michigan quarterback competition any differently. Moore doesn't plan to name the starter, at least not publicly, until game week.

After a 2024 season in which the Wolverines basically didn't have a QB, Moore and his coaches have stocked the QB room with plenty of options. So why make a decision any sooner than necessary? The first game of the season isn't for another 2-1/2 weeks, and there's still plenty of practice and plenty of QB reps to go around. Besides, why give the teams on Michigan's schedule any advance notice of how to prepare for the Wolverines' offense?

If I had to speculate, or if I were Coach Moore, I'd guess that Mikey Keene takes the field with the starters when Michigan opens the season against New Mexico. But I'd also make sure that after a couple of series, Underwood will make his Michigan debut. It will be a great opportunity for Underwood to get his feet wet and experience major college football. The Lobos won't likely present much of a challenge.

For me, it's less about the New Mexico game than it is about the following week: Michigan travels to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners. Oklahoma may not be toughest team right now, but Memorial Stadium is a tough place to play against a solid defense. Handing the reins to Keene in Norman gives Michigan a chance to get off to a good start without putting too much pressure on their star freshman. Underwood will offer a change-of-pace off the bench as he would have vs New Mexico.

Should all go well against Oklahoma, I would not be surprised to see Underwood named the permanent starter by the time the Wolverines host Central Michigan. It's similar to how Jim Harbaugh integrated J.J. McCarthy into the Michigan offense while Cade McNamara was the veteran starter. Unlike that season, though, I would like to see Underwood take the reins from Keene before season's end. (You may recall how McNamara, a limited QB at best, was simply overwhelmed against Georgia in the National Semifinals. McCarthy didn't have enough experience at that point to provide any real boost off the bench.)

Michigan fans will be clamoring for Underwood, and rightfully so. When a player with that much talent arrives in town, you want to see him play. But Coach Moore is right to take a cautious approach. Taking half the snaps over the first two weeks will not hamper Underwood's development. In fact, by relieving the pressure on him to be the Savior in Week 1, Moore will allow Underwood to shine by season's end.

Knicks In Disarray

When news broke that the Knicks had fired Tom Thibodeau, it came as a shock... even if you consider that Thibodeau's future with the team had been debated for months. As is often the case whenever a coach is dismissed, stories of disfunction and disapproval leaked out for the world to see. But almost as quickly, the shock turned to ridicule. It appeared that the Knicks had fired their coach with no idea of who would replace him.

At times like this, it's important to remember that more than one thing can be true at once: the Knicks no longer wanted Thibodeau to be the coach. And they had no specific successor in mind. Like any team with a coaching vacancy, the Knicks will now go through the process of doing research on prospective hires, and conducting interviews with those they consider viable candidates.

Fortunately for the Knicks (and whoever becomes their next coach) the roster is full of talented players. The next coach will need to figure out how to make all that talent work, especially given some of their shortcomings. Maybe this is giving the Knicks too much credit, but it's also possible that they had always wanted to conduct a broad coaching search. Speak with different coaches who have different philosophies: different from Thibodeau, different from each other, maybe even different from what the Knicks' front office had in mind. After all, they are looking for someone who is able to take the current collection of parts and turn them into a championship team. They didn't think Thibodeau was the coach for that. Why not hear out as many other coaches as you can?

It also seems that most people have lost sight of one important fact: until Leon Rose holds a press conference to explain his search process, or introduces the Knicks' new coach, every single thing that has been written is a rumor. "Unidentified team source". "League insider". "Sports talk radio host looking to fill three hours a day".

That's not to say that anyone is lying, or that anyone is completely wrong. It's just that in this vacuum -- Knicks fire coach! Knicks ask permission to speak to other coaches! Knicks are denied! -- a lot of speculation happens. I agree that Thibodeau was the best Knicks coach in decades, but also agree that he had his limitations. I'm not willing to argue that the Knicks made the wrong choice until after they hire a new coach. Even then, it will be difficult to judge their success until next year's Eastern Conference Finals. Will the Knicks be there again? Or will Knicks' fans be pining for the "good old days" when Coach Thibs prowled the sidelines? Only time will tell.