According to the Detroit News and ESPN, the school hired a law firm to begin an investigation into the way the athletic department has handled numerous things in recent years. Michigan has been plagued by scandal in recent years, and that statement was accurate even before coach Sherrone Moore was fired for cause Wednesday for an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
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Moore, who was arrested by police shortly after his firing, has been charged with felony breaking and entering, stalking and criminal trespass or entry without trespassing. She allegedly went to the employee’s residence after being fired and, according to prosecutors, grabbed butter knives and kitchen scissors while threatening to kill herself because she “ruined” Moore’s life.
Prosecutors added that the victim broke up with Moore on Monday and later told the school they had been in a relationship.
Moore, 39, married and father of three, was released on bail and his next hearing is scheduled for January. He had recently concluded his second regular season as Michigan’s coach. The latest UM investigation will be conducted by the law firm Jenner & Block. The firm was hired to investigate Moore’s relationship with the victim. An investigation had been carried out before the woman went to the school and the wider investigation will also include the way Moore’s dismissal was handled.
Michigan’s athletic department has been led by athletic director Warde Manuel since 2016. On Thursday, NBC Sports reported that Michigan knew Moore was dealing with mental health issues, but no one else was present when Manuel fired Moore.
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Moore was promoted to offensive coordinator after the 2023 season following the departure of Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers. Moore served as the team’s interim coach during two different Harbaugh suspensions over the course of that national championship season.
Harbaugh served a self-imposed three-game suspension earlier in the year for recruiting violations and was suspended for the final three games of the year by the Big Ten due to the Connor Stalions’ advanced scouting scheme.
In August 2024, Harbaugh was suspended for one year and given a four-year cause penalty by the NCAA for recruiting violations. Last August, Harbaugh received a 10-year ban for cause. The cause sanctions (and suspension) do not affect Harbaugh’s employment in the NFL in any way.
While Harbaugh was hit by a decade-long spectacular cause, Michigan was fined all of its postseason revenue from the 2025 and 2026 football seasons and received additional sanctions.
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In March, former Michigan assistant Matt Weiss, who was co-offensive coordinator with Moore in 2022, was indicted on more than 20 federal counts for allegedly hacking into the accounts of thousands of athletes and college students across the country to access their photos and videos.
Weiss, who was fired in January 2023, allegedly “gained unauthorized access to student-athlete databases from more than 100 colleges and universities maintained by a third-party vendor,” the U.S. attorneys said. From there, “Weiss was able to gain access to the social media, email and/or cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 targeted athletes” along with 1,300 other students, according to prosecutors.
Weiss, who worked for John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens before joining Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan, began his alleged hacking while with the Ravens before continuing at Michigan.
In 2024, Michigan fired men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard after an eight-win season. While Howard was recovering from heart surgery in September 2023 and was in the midst of his comeback, he got into an altercation with the team’s strength and conditioning coach. Howard was not punished for the incident. In 2022, Howard was suspended for five games for punching a Wisconsin assistant in the face after a game.