The University of Michigan has commissioned a full investigation into the practices and culture of its athletic department, focusing on how numerous scandals have occurred and handled in recent years, a source told ESPN.
The firing of football coach Sherrone Moore this week will be a particular focus.
The investigation will be led by Jenner & Block, a Chicago-based law firm that has done business with the school in recent years, including investigating whether Moore had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
The Detroit News first reported the investigation was authorized.
The firm opened an investigation earlier this fall into the conduct of Moore and a staff member after the university received an anonymous tip, multiple sources told ESPN. Both Moore and the staff member denied the relationship and insufficient evidence emerged to confirm it.
That changed Wednesday when, according to prosecutors in Washtenaw County, Michigan, the staffer told investigators it did happen and presented corroborating evidence. On Monday, the staffer had broken off the years-long relationship, according to prosecutors, but became concerned when Moore sent a flurry of text messages and calls that went unanswered.
The university quickly fired Moore on Wednesday over the relationship. Shortly afterward, Moore went to the staff member's apartment outside Ann Arbor and, according to prosecutors, broke in, grabbing kitchen shears and some butter knives. He then threatened to commit suicide.
“I'm going to kill myself,” Moore said, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Kati Rezmierski. “I'm going to make you look. My blood is on your hands. You ruined my life.”
Moore, a married father of three, was charged Friday with three counts, including felony criminal trespass and misdemeanor stalking in a domestic relationship and criminal trespass. Moore pleaded not guilty and a probable cause hearing was set for January 22, 2026.
On Friday night, after spending two nights in jail, Moore was released on $25,000 bail with a GPS monitoring system and an order to receive counseling.
This is the latest in a series of scandals that have affected both the athletic department and the university as a whole. It includes a federal indictment in March against former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, who faces 24 counts of unauthorized computer access and aggravated identity theft.
Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan allege that Weiss undertook a vast, multi-year effort to access the personal accounts of thousands of NCAA student-athletes across the country. He is accused of targeting specific female athletes to access personal and intimate photographs and videos.
Some of the alleged crimes, the feds say, occurred while Weiss worked inside the school's football facility, Schembechler Hall, from 2021 to 2022, and during a previous season with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens.
There have been additional run-ins with NCAA rules, including the high-profile 2023 advanced scouting operation centered on former football staffer Connor Stalions. The NCAA imposed four years of probation on the program and a fine that could exceed $30 million.
Former football coach Jim Harbaugh was hit with numerous suspensions in his final years at the school for both the advanced scouting situation and the recruiting violation. Harbaugh left to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in January 2024. Moore, who was promoted from offensive coordinator to succeed Harbaugh, has also been suspended twice by the NCAA. He still owes a one-game ban, which was due to be served in 2026, for deleting a thread of text messages sent to the Stalions.
The series of scandals has put a spotlight on the athletic department as a whole, including director Warde Manuel, an alumnus and former player on the Wolverines led by Bo Schembechler in the late 1980s. Manuel has been on the job since 2016.
A high-level meeting of university officials was held Thursday night, sources told ESPN, sparking intense speculation about Manuel's future, but he remains on the job. The university would owe Manuel, 57, who signed a new five-year contract in December 2024, about $6.75 million if it fires him without cause.
On Thursday, interim university President Domenico Grasso, in a letter to the university community, asked anyone with knowledge of Moore's situation to provide it through a confidential reporting system.
“Together we will move forward with integrity and excellence and reaffirm our dedication to serving the public good,” Grasso wrote.
Despite all the tumult, the Wolverines' athletic department is primarily thriving on competition, including the football program winning the 2023 national title. Currently, the men's and women's basketball teams are ranked in the top six nationally. Hockey is number one.
Meanwhile, the university has consistently set institutional records for the number of undergraduate applications in recent years, reaching 98,310 for the incoming freshman class this year, according to the university's federal records. That's up from 79,743 in 2022, an increase of 18.9% in just three years.
Jenner & Block has a long-standing relationship with the university, including, in 2022, investigating an inappropriate relationship between then-school president Mark Schlissel and a university employee that led to Schlissel's removal from office.
