Michigan player explains why he stands by former coach

While the ouster of former Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore was a bit of a national punchline (and regional and local), there was a human element to it, and it went well beyond Moore and his former assistant Paige Shiver.

In the immediate aftermath of the scandal, pretty much every Michigan football player and coach who spoke to the media during bowl prep had spoken of being betrayed, but running back Jordan Marshall had a little bit of a different stance. Marshall saw Moore as a human who had made a mistake, and he won't go so far as to completely disavow the man who brought him to Ann Arbor.

Marshall joined the Big Moe podcast, which emanates from his former high school in Cincinnati, and he shared why he's not backing down.

"I mean, it was hard, like I'm not gonna lie," Marshall said. "I did stand by Coach Moore, and I'll still tell people today he's a great coach. I truly believe that. He made a mistake, and people make mistakes. I've made mistakes, you've made mistakes, people here have made mistakes.

"I've always been taught by my mom as one mistake doesn't make somebody. For me, it was hard just realizing because I'm getting bashed because I stuck by somebody that I trusted and that I truly loved. For me, it's really just, like I said, you have to fall back on your faith and the people that truly love you because my values is to love everyone as they are and with their mistakes, with their wounds. I have those wounds too that people don't know about, people quite honestly don't ask about just because I look like -- I don't know, I'm this public figure now, and I've taken a lot of things, and I try to figure it out myself. But truly, you need a village around you to help you."

Certainly, that doesn't preclude Marshall from feeling a sense of betrayal. But given today's standard of culture to disavow and disdain, his stance is much different from the current norm. He had a relationship with Moore, and even if the former head coach fell short of the role he had in Ann Arbor, that doesn't mean he didn't have a positive impact on the players he oversaw directly. And Marshall is right to make that distinction.

Of course, Marshall retained his position coach, Tony Alford, with the coaching change. But he also has a new head coach in Kyle Whittingham, who seeks to revamp the culture in Ann Arbor after everything inflicted upon it by Moore.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan player defends former coach Sherrone Moore