The college football origin stories of Sherrone Moore, backup Oklahoma guard
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Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
A common refrain heard around the Oklahoma locker room and team hotel on evenings before game days: “Ask Sherrone.”
Long before succeeding Jim Harbaugh to become Michigan‘s head coach, Sherrone Moore was a backup guard for the Sooners. He never started a game, but Moore proved to be a beloved, sought out and, ultimately, valued member of Oklahoma’s 2006 and 2007 Big 12 championship teams. Even then, those Sooners say now they saw a future head coach.
“He was incredibly bright, a great communicator … a team guy, and that matters,” recalled Bob Stoops, Oklahoma’s head coach at the time. “Everything about him was fantastic.”
Moore, 38, is less than two weeks away from his debut as Michigan’s permanent head coach. He faces the enormous task of replacing Harbaugh, as well as 13 key players from last year’s national championship team selected in the NFL draft; no program lost more draft picks this year.
Moore is also under scrutiny after the NCAA implicated him in the sign-stealing operation allegedly orchestrated by former Michigan staff member Connor Stalions. According to a draft of the NCAA’s notice of allegations to Michigan that ESPN obtained, Moore could face a suspension and other penalties for allegedly deleting a thread of 52 text messages with Stalions in October 2023. According to the draft, Moore’s texts later were recovered and he turned them over to NCAA enforcement staff. Moore said last week that the school is fully cooperating with the NCAA infractions process; of the Stalions text thread, he added: “I look forward to them being released.”
Moore, however, showed last season as offensive coordinator and later, interim head coach, that he could weather a storm and lead the Wolverines to success with a cloud hanging over the program. While Harbaugh served suspensions, Moore went 4-0, with wins over Penn State and Ohio State, as Michigan finished undefeated on its way to the national title.
During that stretch, Moore’s former teammates said they saw the same passion they remembered from his time at Oklahoma.
“When they won that [Penn State] game and he cried in the interview and people was giving him a hard time, I was like, ‘That’s because y’all don’t know the type of person he is, the type of love he has for his teammates, the school he’s at, the kids he’s coaching,'” said former Oklahoma All-American defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who was a six-time Pro Bowler with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He’s very loyal. And he’s going to be the biggest cheerleader.”
During his two years in Norman, Moore was Oklahoma’s biggest cheerleader from the sidelines. Moore grew up just outside of Wichita in Derby, Kansas. After a stint at Butler (Kansas) Community College, he joined the Sooners as part of a star-laden signing class that included McCoy, San Francisco 49ers All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, former Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl running back DeMarco Murray and 2008 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford.
Tulsa head coach Kevin Wilson, who was then Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator, recruited Moore out of junior college to replenish the Sooners’ depth up front not long after Moore’s father was sent to Iraq to work as a field manager for an oil company. Immediately, Wilson was impressed.
“A rock-solid guy,” Wilson said. “I truly didn’t think when he was young, ‘OK, this kid’s coaching.’ But you go back and [think about] how great a teammate he was, watch the multiple positions he played and adapted easily, he showed a lot of those coaching traits as a young kid.”
On a loaded Oklahoma offensive line that paved the way for an offense that broke several FBS records, Moore wound up backing up two-time All-American left guard Duke Robinson.
Moore rarely played. But, as Stoops noted, Moore was always ready to go.
“A lot of people don’t handle that situation the best,” Stoops said. “And he did. He always had a great attitude. That’s what I mean by being a great team guy.”
Moore didn’t get many opportunities to help the Sooners on Saturdays. Instead, he focused on trying to help those that did reach their potential. Robinson especially relied on Moore for advice in practice, solidarity in summer workouts and, along with the rest of Oklahoma’s players, encouragement in games.
“He definitely could’ve played elsewhere. It just so happened that we had an elite offensive line,” Robinson said. “But he came in a dog, and fit right in. He was so smart, he helped me and other guys when it came to understanding certain plays and why the play went this way and why certain calls were made. He saw things that we didn’t see. And he helped us out when we made a mistake or missed an assignment.”
McCoy and the Oklahoma defenders would often grow frustrated during preseason practices because Moore would know what the defense would be doing leading into every snap.
“You try to move all over the place to try and not give away what’s happening,” McCoy said. “But he’s calling out all the blitzes. He knew whether we were running a stunt game, he knew all our calls, all our checks, he knew everything. He knew everybody’s job. He could play any position. … Some teammates are just far advanced when it comes to knowing the game of football and Sherrone was always that guy.”
Despite his football acumen, Moore wasn’t Oklahoma’s most athletic offensive lineman. During summer workouts, strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt had players do an hour on a StairMaster for every second they missed off their goal time in shuttle runs. They would also have to run the shuttles again.
“Usually me and Sherrone [would] be the last ones, and we’d have the entire team rooting for us to finish,” Robinson said. “We’d be literally just falling over each other, stumbling. We really needed each other, like, ‘Damn bro, we better make this time because I ain’t doing this s— over again, I’m not getting on that StairMaster, either. None of that, bro.'”
Moore didn’t always make his time. But unlike other exhausted teammates, Moore never stopped running, even if he knew he wouldn’t make it in time.
“There were much better athletes in much better shape than Sherrone was, but Sherrone wouldn’t give up,” recalled former Sooners All-Big 12 center Jon Cooper, now Mississippi State’s tight ends coach. “He might be a couple seconds late. But he would go on and finish late rather than quit.”
Trent Ratterree, an instate walk-on tight end, remembered Moore taking him under his wing going into Ratterree’s freshman year. The two had a mutual friend in Wade Weibert, who played with Moore at Butler before going to Kansas State. Weibert had asked Moore to look out for Ratterree and he did just that, becoming a “big brother type” to him.
“When I got to OU the workouts were shocking,” Ratterree said. “I would throw up because I was so anxious. Sherrone picked up on that and coached me through it. … I always looked up to him because I thought he was an extremely nice person. He would lift people up. It was just good to have him around for morale purposes.”
That was especially true in tough and key moments during games. Moore developed a reputation for being first on the field between possessions, slapping teammates on the shoulder pads while offering advice and lifting spirits.
“He was always Mr. Positive,” Cooper said. “He was always about the guys, always talking to us, always trying to spread positivity.”
Cooper recalled during the 2007 Big 12 championship game when Moore’s positivity helped Oklahoma overcome a slow start offensively. The Sooners trailed No. 1 Missouri 3-0 after the first quarter. At halftime, the game was tied.
“We’d be coming off [the field], and he’d be out at the numbers every time like, ‘Hey, y’all got this,'” Cooper said. “You could see that look in his eye and it was contagious. He was like, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing — it’s about to break.'”
As Michigan’s co-offensive coordinator in 2021, Moore had another similar moment. After a grinding first half against Washington, Moore repeatedly uttered, “Smash,” along the sidelines. The Wolverines embodied that mentality and steamrolled the Huskies in the second half, rushing for 343 yards (#smash is now on Moore’s X bio).
In that Big 12 title game 14 years earlier, Moore kept reminding the Oklahoma offense that it was “about to break.” Then, it did. The Sooners scored three straight touchdowns in the second half en route to their second straight Big 12 championship.
Following the Big 12 title victory the year before over Nebraska, Moore was up front dancing to wide receiver Malcolm Kelly’s famed victory rap.
After the Missouri win, Moore was the first one dancing again.
“He was very high hipped with skinny legs and — I don’t know how to explain this dance — but he had this dance anytime we won a big game,” Cooper said. “And everybody would be cheering him on because he was that kind of guy on the sidelines.”
Moore’s infectious personality and relentless positivity carried over off the field, too. In a locker room that could be cliquey by position, Moore was friendly with almost everyone, from the freshman walk-on tight end to the punter. Teammates called him “the connector” who players could confide in if they were struggling with a problem. As a result, Moore’s house became the unofficial hangout off campus for the entire team, whether he or roommate D.J. Wolfe, an Oklahoma defensive back, were there or not.
“If there was a group of people laughing, you could bet your money Sherrone was somewhere nearby,” McCoy said. “That’s the type of person he is, he brought so much joy and love. … As soon as practice was over, you want to talk about the life of the party.”
Yet when it came to football, Moore was all business. Before every pregame walkthrough, each player had to turn in a written test on that week’s game plan. Inevitably, several players would wait last minute to fill them out.
“They’d be in the locker room hurrying, trying to rush, pages would be all ripped up, just looking a mess,” McCoy said. “And if they didn’t know the answer, it was always, ‘Ask Sherrone.’ Everybody would go to Sherrone. Because he’s going to know.”
After Moore graduated from Oklahoma, Stoops said he wanted to hire him. But he didn’t have a vacant spot on his staff. Instead, Moore went to Louisville, where he began his rapid ascension up the coaching ranks — all the way to Michigan.
“When you take a person that intelligent about the game of football, with that type of passion, it’s hard to keep him from becoming a head coach,” McCoy said. “Sherrone’s a natural born leader.
“He was born to be a coach.”
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Ryan S. Clark
Add Rick Tocchet to the list of available coaching options on the open market with the Vancouver Canucks announcing Tuesday that Tocchet left the team.
There had been a belief that Tocchet’s time with the Canucks could be coming to an end. Last week saw the discussion of Tocchet’s future with the franchise come under greater focus, with Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford saying they weren’t exercising their option on Tocchet’s contract before adding that they offered him a new, more lucrative deal to remain in Vancouver.
But now? Tocchet joins the list of sought-after coaching candidates and the Canucks become the eighth NHL team that will use this offseason to go through a coaching search.
“After a very long and thorough process, unfortunately Rick has decided to leave the Vancouver Canucks,” Rutherford said in a statement. “This is very disappointing news, but we respect Rick’s decision to move to a new chapter in his hockey career. We did everything in our power to keep him but at the end of the day, Rick felt he needed a change.”
In the same news conference in which Rutherford said the team offered Tocchet a new deal, he also said that Tocchet “may have his mind somewhere else” before adding that he felt Tocchet and his staff did “a good job coaching this team this year” as they did in their first full campaign.
Tocchet was a midseason hire during the 2022-23 season. His first full year in charge saw the Canucks win 50 games, finish with 109 points and win the Pacific Division. He led the Canucks to their first postseason appearance since the 2019-20 season and was a win away from advancing to the Western Conference finals.
Entering this season, the Canucks had most of their players from their playoff team. They started strong with a 15-8-5 record but encountered numerous on-ice and off-ice problems that would prove too large.
Among them was the friction between star forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. The tension between Miller and Pettersson reached a stage in which Canucks captain Quinn Hughes publicly acknowledged there was an issue with Miller and Pettersson denying such issues.
Miller would be traded to the New York Rangers before the trade deadline, and the Canucks struggled to find someone who could replace his production. They would finish six points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
Still, Tocchet had the support of Hughes, along with others within the organization who wanted him to stay.
As for what it all means going forward for both parties? Tocchet is among those who will join Mike Sullivan, who parted ways with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday after winning two Stanley Cups in 10 seasons, as one of the most attractive names for teams seeking a new bench boss.
Then there are the teams that need a coach. It’s a list that includes the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Seattle Kraken, plus the Penguins and now the Canucks.
“I’m choosing to move on from the Vancouver Canucks,” Tocchet said. “Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes an opportune time. While I don’t know where I’m headed, or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities around hockey.”
It seems such a short time ago that all 16 teams began the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs with a clean slate. On Tuesday night, two teams could have their postseason runs ended.
Can both teams stave off elimination to get another home game out of the 2025 postseason?
Meanwhile in the Western Conference, both series involving Pacific Division teams are tied 2-2 heading back to the higher seed’s domain. Which teams will take pivotal Games 5 in Vegas Golden Knights–Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings–Edmonton Oilers?
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down in Monday’s games, and the Three Stars of Monday Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game 5 (TOR leads 3-1) | 7 p.m. ET | ESPN
Games 2-4 marked the 11th time in the past 20 years that teams have gone to overtime three straight times in a playoff series.
Jake Sanderson‘s game-winning overtime goal was the first of his career, and he became the ninth defenseman age 22 or younger with an OT goal in the playoffs (and the first for the Senators).
Veteran David Perron scored his first playoff goal with the Senators, the fourth team with which he has scored a postseason goal (Blues, Golden Knights, Ducks).
Matthew Knies scored his sixth career playoff goal, which is tied for the fourth most by a Maple Leafs player age 22 or younger since 1976-77, behind Auston Matthews (12), Wendel Clark (11) and Russ Courtnall (8).
Toronto defensemen have scored five goals this postseason, the most by any team, a surprising outcome given that the Leafs had the fewest goals by defensemen in the regular season (21).
New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 5 (CAR leads 3-1) | 7:30 p.m. ET | TBS
The Devils have outscored the Hurricanes at 5-on-5 in the series (7-5), but trail on their own power plays (0-1), the Canes’ power plays (0-4) and when the net is empty (0-2).
Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was knocked out of Game 4 following a collision with Devils forward Timo Meier. Meier has not scored on Andersen during this series, but scored on his first shot on goal against backup goalie Pyotr Kochetkov.
Andersen’s status is up in the air for Game 5, but he is the current leader among playoff goaltenders in goals-against average (1.59) this postseason, and is second among qualified goalies in save percentage (.936).
Andrei Svechnikov scored his second career playoff hat trick in Game 4. He has two for his career and is the only player in Hurricanes/Whalers franchise history to score a playoff hat trick.
Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights
Game 5 (series tied 2-2) | 9:30 p.m. ET | ESPN
Game 4 broke one streak and continued another. Ivan Barbashev‘s OT winner snapped a three-game losing streak for Vegas in playoff OT games, while the loss for Minnesota makes it five straight defeats in home playoff games that go to the extra session.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson made 42 saves in the loss, his second career playoff game with 40 or more. He is the only goaltender in franchise history with multiple 40-save games in the playoffs.
Kirill Kaprizov registered an assist in the Game 4 loss, giving him eight points in four games this postseason, one behind the leaders.
Vegas forward Tomas Hertl is on a heater. His goal in Game 4 is his third this postseason, and he has eight goals in his past nine games going back to March 22.
The Wild have been mostly effective at keeping Jack Eichel off the score sheet. He had one assist in Game 4, his first point of the series after a team-leading 94 points in the regular season.
Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings
Game 5 (series tied 2-2) | 10 p.m. ET | TBS
With his two-goal outing in Game 4, Evan Bouchard became the fourth defenseman in Stanley Cup playoff history to have back-to-back multigoal games, joining Rob Blake (2002), Al Iafrate (1993) and Denis Potvin (1981).
Leon Draisaitl — who scored the OT game winner in Game 4 — now has eight four-point games in his playoff career. That’s the fourth most in Oilers history, behind Wayne Gretzky (20), Mark Messier (10) and Jari Kurri (10).
Tied with Draisaitl for the playoff scoring lead is Kings winger Adrian Kempe, who is also tied for the goals lead with four. Kempe had 19 total points in 22 previous playoff games, all with the Kings.
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper has been busy, facing 134 shots, which is the second most among postseason goaltenders (Gustavsson is first with 136). Kuemper’s current .881 save percentage is the second worst of his playoff career, narrowly ahead of the .879 he generated while backstopping the Wild for two games in the 2013 playoffs.
Arda’s three stars from Monday night
Johnston scored his first goal of the 2025 postseason nine seconds in, which is tied for the fifth fastest goal to start a game in Stanley Cup playoff history. He had himself a night, with two goals and an assist in the Stars’ win.
Rantanen scored his first postseason goal with the Stars against his old team. Rantanen became the seventh different player in NHL history to score a playoff goal against a team with which he previously tallied 100-plus postseason points. The others: Jaromir Jagr (2012 and 2008 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins), Brett Hull (2002, 2001, and 1999 vs. St. Louis Blues), Wayne Gretzky (1992, 1990, 1989 vs. Edmonton Oilers), Jari Kurri (1992 vs. Oilers), Paul Coffey (1992 vs. Oilers) and Bernie Geoffrion (1967 vs. Montreal Canadiens).
His postgame quotes keep getting better and better, to the point where he deserves a star for saying, “I’m sick of talking about hits” — then asking the media for their thoughts. Love it.
Monday’s scores
Florida Panthers 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 2
FLA leads 3-1 | Game 5 Wednesday
After an exciting, but scoreless, first period, the game heated up even more in the second. Anton Lundell opened the scoring for the Panthers, and Aaron Ekblad delivered a vicious hit to Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel; the call was not penalized on the ice, and Hagel would have to leave the game. Thereafter, the Lightning scored two goals within 11 seconds from Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak to take the lead well into the third period. But then in another span of 11 seconds, the Panthers pulled off the same feat, with goals by Ekblad and Seth Jones, sending the building into a frenzy. Carter Verhaeghe added an empty-netter for insurance. Full recap.
1:21
Panthers match Lightning with 2 goals in 11 seconds to take lead
Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones score within 11 seconds of each other as the Panthers grab a late lead in the third period.
Dallas Stars 6, Colorado Avalanche 2
DAL leads 3-2 | Game 6 Thursday
As wild as the opening game was Monday night, this one looked to be going down the same road early. Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston scored nine seconds into the game, which is the fastest goal ever to start a playoff game in Stars franchise history. Fellow young Star Thomas Harley joined him on the scoresheet with 45 seconds left in the first. From there on, Dallas kept Colorado at arm’s length, with a second-period goal from Mikko Rantanen, another from Johnston and one from Mason Marchment, followed by an empty-netter from Roope Hintz to put an exclamation point on the proceedings. Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon scored in the second period, but that was not nearly enough on this night. Full recap.
0:34
Stars score in first 9 seconds of the game
Wyatt Johnston wastes no time as he finds the net within nine seconds of play for a Stars goal against the Avalanche.
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