Michigan State fired coach Sherrone Moore for cause on Wednesday, a late entry in the never-ending 2025 college football coaching rotation.
The school said Moore had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Hours after Michigan announced that Moore had been fired, reports emerged that he had been detained by police in a nearby city and could face charges stemming from Wednesday night’s incident.
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The Wolverines are now on the hunt for a coach with Biff Poggi being named the team’s interim coach heading into the Citrus Bowl against Texas. Here are five coaches who make sense for Michigan.
Jed Fish, Washington
Fish now has two seasons of experience as a head coach in the Big Ten Conference after entering the league at Washington. He served as an assistant coach at Michigan for two seasons in 2015 and 2016, serving as the team’s passing game coordinator before moving to UCLA as offensive coordinator and serving as the Bruins’ interim coach after the season.
Fish wasn’t the most high-profile hire, but he has plenty of NFL experience and spent the 2020 season as the New England Patriots’ QB coach before taking the head coaching job at Arizona State.
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The Wildcats went 1-11 in his first season after Fish replaced Kevin Sumlin, but Arizona improved to 5-7 in 2022 and 10-3 in 2023 before he replaced Karen DeBoer in Seattle. The Huskies are 14-11 in his two seasons and 8-4 in 2025.
Manny Diaz, Duke University
Could Michigan State be Diaz’s second chance at a traditional powerhouse? The former Miami coach was fresh off winning the ACC Championship and his Blue Devils went 6-2 in the conference before defeating Virginia in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night.
In Diaz’s two seasons in Durham, Duke went 17-9. Played three seasons in Miami. The Hurricanes’ record is 21-15. The best season of his tenure was in 2020, when Miami went 8-3.
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After Diaz left Miami and hired Mario Cristobal to replace him, Diaz spent two seasons as defensive coordinator at Penn State. It was his only coaching experience in the Big Ten Conference, but the Nittany Lions went 21-5 in his two years at State College. In 2023, Penn State ranks third nationally in scoring defense, allowing 13.5 points per game and 4.2 yards per carry.
Karen DeBoer (Alabama)
Yes, Alabama is still in the College Football Playoff. But it’s not hard to imagine DeBoer playing for Michigan after the 2023 season if the Wolverines don’t promote Moore and instead look for an outside hire after Jim Harbaugh leaves for the NFL.
Instead, DeBoer became Alabama’s coach, and the Crimson Tide has now lost three games in two straight seasons. The standard Nick Saban set in Tuscaloosa is unmatched. But you have to go back to the first two seasons of the Mike Shula era to find the last time Alabama lost at least three games in consecutive seasons.
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If — if — DeBoer wants to voluntarily leave Tuscaloosa after a possible loss to Oklahoma State on Dec. 19, this might be the best chance he gets. This will restart one of the craziest coaching cycles we’ve ever seen, and Alabama’s vacancy will ripple throughout the sport.
Jay Harbaugh, Seattle Seahawks
What if Michigan wanted to hire Harbaugh, who was not sanctioned by the NCAA? Jay is currently the special teams coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks under former Michigan State assistant coach Mike Macdonald. Before joining Seattle after the 2024 season, Harbaugh has been with Michigan since his father was hired in 2015 and served as the team’s tight ends, running backs, special teams and safeties coach during his tenure at the school.
Harbaugh is very, very familiar with how Michigan operates. But the Wolverines have every reason to cut ties with the Jim Harbaugh era.
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Jesse Minter, Los Angeles Chargers
If Michigan doesn’t want to completely move away from the Harbaugh era and Minter is interested in returning to college football, it could be a much worse defensive coordinator than the 2023 national championship team. Minter followed Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers and ran a defense that allowed less than 21 points per game and intercepted opposing quarterbacks 15 times while allowing just 12 touchdown passes.
Yes, Minter received a performance penalty as part of the NCAA’s punishment for recruiting violations that occurred while Minter was in Ann Arbor. However, his one-year “performance reason” penalty will expire before the end of 2025. If Michigan had waited a little longer to hire Minter, it could have avoided the NCAA red tape, and Minter would have likely wanted to finish the Chargers’ season anyway.