The Univ. of Michigan is saying that it is “not legally required to pay” former football coach Sherrone Moore any buyout money because the firing “is for cause,” according to Jordan Mendoza of USA TODAY. Moore could “legally contest the firing for cause” and the sides could “also agree to a settlement.” If Moore had been fired without cause, his buyout would have been “just over” $13.7M -- due to be “paid in monthly installments through the end of his contract in January, 2029.” He would have also been “owed any bonuses for the 2025 season that had not yet been paid” (USA TODAY, 12/10).
CLEANING HOUSE: YAHOO SPORTS’ Dan Wolken noted the “final tally” from the Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan includes four straight wins over Ohio State, three Big Ten titles and a national championship. It also includes an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations during COVID, an illegal scouting scandal, and an assistant coach who was “indicted on 24 federal charges of hacking into private information and images from the phones of female athletes.” And now, it includes the firing and arrest of Moore. Wolken: “Thanks for the memories, Jimbo. But as Michigan sorts through its latest crisis to reset the football program once again, the school needs to draw a line in the sand. No more Harbaugh-adjacent coaches. It’s time to cut ties to that era” (YAHOO SPORTS, 12/10).
DAMAGED REP: SI’s Pat Forde wrote “for all the alleged character that has been attached” to the Michigan Man “appellation, they keep getting in trouble.” Forde: “Stop making headlines, Wolverines. At least the embarrassing ones” (SI, 12/10). USA TODAY’s Matt Hayes wrote Michigan “knowingly replaced one cheater with another,” and went “further down the rabbit hole of shredding its once impeccable reputation.” Now that he is gone, watch “how quickly Michigan turns on Moore.” Hayes: “Watch how stories and anecdotes leak that Moore was never the right guy for the job in the first place” (USA TODAY, 12/10). In Detroit, Jeff Seidel wrote while it “seems stunning and surprising” for the news to come on what seems like a random day in December, it is “not surprising to many.” Because it “confirmed, in general terms, what has been swirling on social media and in whispers around the program.” Seidel: “All this did was accelerate what I thought was inevitable” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/10).
TIME TO CLEAN UP: In Detroit, Bob Wojnowski writes Michigan is “threatening to toss its reputation, scandal by scandal.” Moore’s infidelities with a staffer are not violations of football rules, but “violations of decency and workplace standards.” And it is “further evidence of a discipline deficit in UM’s program.” Wojnowski wrote the next steps for the school are “absolutely critical.” For UM, it is “from a credibility and sustainability standpoint.” UM AD Warde Manuel “will be challenged more than ever,” and his “own reputation (and job) should be at stake” (DETROIT NEWS, 12/11). CBSSPORTS.com’s Shehan Jeyarajah wrote for more than a century, Michigan football has “held itself up as a paragon of morality in a chaotic college athletics world.” If the past few years have been any indication, that image “has been dramatically tarnished.” And the next hire at Michigan “will be tasked with fixing it” (CBSSPORTS.com, 12/10).
FROM HERO TO ZERO: In Detroit, Mitch Albom writes no one “is above anything.” If you have not “learned that by now in the new world of college football, learn it today.” Albom: “Schools aren’t above bad behavior. Players aren’t above bad behavior. Coaches aren’t above bad behavior.” He adds the “only surprise left is that anyone is surprised at anything, anymore.” The sudden firing of Moore “only proves that what you see and what you get can be two different things in college sports today.” Moore was “characterized as a strong-willed, disciplined young leader.” That once admirable statement “will now become a punchline” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/11).
