Sherrone Moore, who just completed his second regular season as Michigan’s head football coach, has been fired for cause after an outside investigative firm hired by Michigan found he had been engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an individual on the football staff.
“U-M head football coach Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effective immediately,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement Wednesday. “Following a University investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. This conduct constitutes a clear violation of University policy, and U-M maintains zero tolerance for such behavior.”
Later Wednesday, Moore was involved in an incident that required police attention, the Saline chief of police confirmed to The Detroit News.
Biff Poggi, who was Moore’s associate head coach and filled in as acting head coach for two games this season while Moore served an NCAA-related self-imposed suspension, is now the interim head coach. The Wolverines went 9-3 this season and are preparing to face Texas (9-3) in the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 in Orlando.
Manuel was meeting with parents of Michigan players Wednesday evening on video conference call.
According to a source briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak on the record, Michigan conducted an internal investigation that did not reveal evidence of an inappropriate relationship. But there was enough smoke, the source said, to prompt the University of Michigan Board of Regents to hired an outside firm to conduct an external investigation. That investigation began earlier this week, and with the evidence, Manuel fired Moore, the source said.
According to Moore’s contract, there are several options for firing for cause, including a criminal conviction, misconduct and “conduct by the Head Coach which offends against public decency or morality, as shall be determined by standards prevailing in the community or which results in, or in the reasonability determine of the University could result in, material injury to the reputation, interests or obligations of the University of Michigan.”
This situation has offered a new challenge for the UM Regents, who are actively searching for a new university president. It’s worth considering how this situation in football would look to presidential candidates. The Regents in January 2022 fired then-University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel after an investigation found inappropriate conduct with an employee.
“We don’t put up with this once we know about it,” the source said. “But it takes some time to verify.”
Moore signed a five-year contract before the 2024 season, and this was year was to be paid more than $6.1 million. He was due a 2% increase in pay each year, and the salary including a $500,000 annual retention bonus.
Moore and his wife, Kelli, have three young daughters.
Moore, 39, was hired as Michigan head coach on Jan. 26, 2024, after spending six seasons on former head coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff. Moore became the 21st head football coach in school history and the program’s first Black head coach. He replaced Harbaugh, who left Michigan after nine seasons to take over as head coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.
It is unclear how Moore’s firing will affect the Wolverines’ recently-signed 2026 recruiting class and the current roster.
This is not the first time Moore was involved in controversy at Michigan. He served a one-game self-imposed suspension during the 2023 season relating to an NCAA investigation into illegal recruiting during a COVID-19 dead period in 2021. He also was suspended three games and given a two-year show-cause order by the NCAA relating to the more recent illegal scouting scandal involving former staffer Connor Stalions. Moore was found to have deleted a string of 52 texts with Stalions.
Moore joined Michigan’s staff in 2018 after working on Central Michigan’s staff. He arrived at Michigan as tight ends coach from 2018-20. He was then promoted as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator from 2021-22. He took over as the sole offensive coordinator in 2023 when Michigan went undefeated and won the national title and then was named head coach in 2024.
In his first season as head coach, Moore’s team was on the brink of not making a bowl game, but the team rallied with wins over Northwestern and then Ohio State. Michigan finished 8-5 with a bowl win against Alabama.
