Dave Portnoy Credit: Barstool Sports
By Brendon Kleen on

In the aftermath of Sherrone Moore’s surprise dismissal on Wednesday afternoon, all eyes were on Dave Portnoy as the most prominent Michigan alum in sports media.

Portnoy, a part-time booster who is never afraid to cut a promo on behalf of his Wolverines, even turned his Michigan allegiance into a major subplot of the college football season as he fought with Ohio State and the Big Ten over his appearances on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff.

So when Moore was fired with cause a week and a half after he lost The Game to the Buckeyes at home, Portnoy had a predictably strong response. While not as strong as the death threats he issued the previous weekend over a bad NFL beat, Portnoy quickly cycled through the five stages of grief, posting through it in full view of the world on X.

An instant reaction video showed a wet, shirtless Portnoy fresh out of the shower, claiming the move was because of the high standard in Ann Arbor.

“I feel like I know stuff, I don’t know stuff,” Portnoy said. “I’ll just say this … we don’t play for 9-3 at Michigan.”

Before long, “El Presidente” was tagging erstwhile Ole Miss play-caller Lane Kiffin, imploring the coach to leave LSU in the dust and make another controversial move, this time to Big Blue.

Portnoy finally addressed the elephant in the room in his next post, weaving his criticism of Moore together with Michigan’s admission and newly reported details showing the coach’s dismissal was related to an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.

“At Michigan, if you’re going to have an affair with a staffer, you better beat Ohio State and make the playoffs. That’s the Michigan standard,” Portnoy wrote.

Leaving the Kiffin jokes behind, Portnoy began to make a slightly more serious case for Barstool commentator Jon Gruden to be the next coach of the Wolverines.

Growing up in Ohio and Indiana, Gruden previously revealed that his dream was to coach Michigan football. Notably, despite being unemployed and ever closer to a return, Gruden could actually be a candidate. You know, if the Wolverines were willing to look past Gruden’s ugly departure from Las Vegas (like some are already willing to do as Gruden considers prominent NFL openings).

When the other shoe finally dropped late on Wednesday evening, as the unsettling news broke that Moore had been arrested on top of his firing, Portnoy was as clueless as the rest of America.

Whatever happened with Moore seems to have materialized quickly and left even the most plugged-in members of the Michigan family shocked.

Considering that Portnoy has already backtracked from his efforts to bring quarterback Bryce Underwood to Ann Arbor, his words likely don’t have much impact on the Michigan athletic department. After all, with billionaires like Larry Ellison and Stephen Ross as well as media figures like Tom Brady and even Adam Schefter in the picture, Portnoy is one of many voices vying for influence over the program—and money talks.

Still, as Portnoy remains a face of Michigan football on Fox and Barstool becomes a more mainstream media entity, his pressure on the school to do better than Moore amid a relatively shocking firing will affect where the fan base sets the goal posts in the future.

About Brendon Kleen

Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.

View all posts by Brendon Kleen