ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Watching Sherrone Moore stand at center field because the coach of defending national champion Michigan and as a black man at the highest of the huge enterprise that’s college football, a quote got here to mind:

“I’ve never had the luxury of just being a coach.”

I heard these words from John Thompson, the primary black coach to win a national championship in college basketball, once we were writing his autobiography, Thompson, who died in 2020 at age 78, said he felt compelled to use his coaching profession to fight for equal opportunities in all areas of life after growing up in a segregated era and experiencing racial discrimination as an NBA player after which a Georgetown University coach.

Vital spaces like college football, where no black coach has won an FBS title. It’s one in all the last unfulfilled “firsts” in sports — but as Moore takes over at Michigan, he doesn’t seem to feel much of a burden from that history.

Is this a latest luxury for black coaches? An indication of progress? A touch of shortsightedness, perhaps? I went to Ann Arbor to discover.

After Michigan beat Fresno State 30-10 On August 31, at first of the season, I asked Moore on the post-game press conference: How do you are feeling concerning the probability of becoming the primary black coach to win a national championship?

“We have to win next week first. I’m not thinking about me, I’m thinking about these guys,” Moore said, sitting amongst three of his players, one black and two white. “I just want our program to be successful for these guys. Yes, the goal is to win a national championship. But it’s really about the players sitting here and in this locker room.”

Hmmm. College football still has obvious equal opportunity issues – just 16 of 134 trainers at the best levels of competition are black, compared with greater than half of the players. Wouldn’t a black coach winning championships be a powerful example to university presidents and athletic directors who handle recruiting? As reassurance to young black coaches within the recruiting process? As a rebuke to people now attacking the concept of diversity, while ignoring the consequences of inequality?

Thompson said in his book that he had to win because he “knew my success or failure would affect the chances not only of other black coaches but of black people in general.”

But Moore’s environment is different.

He’s 38, born two years after Thompson won the championship in 1984. His parents emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago, and his father joined the U.S. Army. In the seventh grade, Moore moved from a majority-black town in New Jersey to the majority-white town of Derby, Kansas, outside Wichita. Moore was 21 and a reserve offensive lineman in Oklahoma when Barack Obama was elected the country’s first black president. Moore’s Oklahoma teammates and coaches rave about his intelligence and leadership. “He was born to coach,” said teammate Gerald McCoy, an NFL Pro Bowl player. he said.

Last 12 months, when Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for 3 games at the top of the regular season in reference to the sign-stealing scandal, Moore stepped in and led Michigan to key wins over Penn State (he he cried on TV later), Maryland (Michigan’s 1,000th win, greater than some other team) and archrival Ohio State. After Harbaugh left for the NFL, Moore was given the highest job. In just six seasons, Moore rose from tight ends coach to offensive line coach, offensive coordinator and head coach. His talent and labor were rewarded handsomely.

Moore also sees other black coaches at programs that might win all of it — James Franklin at Penn State and Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame. The next league includes DeShaun Foster at UCLA, Ryan Walters at Purdue and Mike Locksley at Maryland. Deion Sanders could win a title when he takes over at Florida State – oops, I meant when the celebs align in Colorado.

Thompson experienced inequality. Moore experienced opportunity.

The day after the Fresno State game, I interviewed Moore in his office. His demeanor was composed, his eye contact exceptional. He’s about 6’1” and weighs 260 kilos (compared to greater than 300 as a player) thanks to figuring out six days a week. It was a Sunday morning, and the gospel song “I’d Rather Have Jesus” was playing softly within the background. He was wearing Jordan 11s—Michigan is a Jordan school.

I asked Moore to reflect on what winning the title would mean for the black community. “For young men and women who are trying to do something that people say they can’t do, I think it would take them to a different stage of understanding that if you want to do something, you can do it,” he said.

“I don’t put anything of myself into it. It’s all about my players. But I think for America, seeing these people on TV, seeing people of the same color as you in these high positions – if you really want to do it, yeah, just go and work for it.”

Moore also understood whose shoulder he stood on.

“Guys like John Thompson, guys like (Pittsburgh Steelers coach) Mike Tomlin really helped and made it easier, I wouldn’t say, but they made it easier for us as African-American coaches in this day and age to be coaches. While those guys had to really struggle and go through tough times, had to win Super Bowls … those guys going through tough times and the things they did put us in the position we’re in.”

Moore will face his own challenges, on and off the sphere. His quarterback is former participant. Michigan’s offense looked questionable against Fresno State, which got here inside six points within the fourth quarter. They now play Texas, which routed Colorado State 52-0 on Aug. 31.

It’s harder to recruit at Michigan, where players must meet high academic standards and where no paychecks are handed out for taking part in in the identical way as at Alabama or Oregon.

Moore was suspended Michigan’s first game of last season under a self-imposed penalty credible accounts that Harbaugh and his staff brought recruits to campus throughout the COVID-19 dead period. Now Moore is named in NCAA’s notice of allegations that a string of 52 text messages with a team analyst were deleted accused stealing competitors’ marks.

With a championship in hand, Harbaugh rushed to the professionals because the NCAA prepared to punish him and his program. Black people have an old saying: The situation has to be really bad for a black person to be elected to a management position.Part of me fears Moore will tackle the approaching slump, lose to Ohio State a couple of times, after which be replaced without a real probability. If Michigan can fire basketball coach and favorite son Juwan Howard, how secure can Moore be?

As Thompson spoke about luxury, he also emphasized that white coaches usually are not expected or required to advocate for racial equality.

Today, Moore doesn’t have to be a freedom fighter. He can simply be a winner of the massive game. That’s the type of equality for black coaches that Thompson hoped for.