In the aftermath of former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore’s sentencing earlier this week, Wolverines athletic director Warde Manuel is still trying to pick up the pieces and move his football program and athletic department forward.
Manuel fired Moore last December after the coach engaged in an improper extramarital relationship with a staffer.
“I felt betrayed,” Manuel told The Detroit News. “It’s the best word that I can use. I felt hurt for all the staff and the student-athletes and the university, because it’s something that I had talked about as it related to the expectations of our employees in athletics and for the university.”
Manuel had handpicked Moore, the former offensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh, to be elevated into the head coaching role after Harbaugh won a national championship and left to take the job with the Chargers in January 2024. Manuel believed in Moore as a leader, and felt at the time that he was best positioned to continue the program’s success in a head coaching role. But the belief rang hollow after the saga threw the program into total disarray early this offseason.
“I thought I was very clear about my expectations and about the outcomes if something like that would happen,” Manuel added. “I had known Sherrone since he got here, believed in him as a leader, believed that my staff is doing things the right way, and I felt hurt, and I felt betrayed by it. It was personal, but it was also, I want to emphasize [personal] for so many people that were affected by it. And it’s hard as a leader to have to enforce discipline on people that you care about and that you believe in, but it has to be done.”
Moore was sentenced to probation this week for two misdemeanor charges
After news of Moore’s firing broke, he was arrested on charges of felony third-degree home invasion, misdemeanor breaking and entering and misdemeanor stalking in a domestic relationship, after he allegedly broke into the home of Paige Shiver, the staffer at the center of the extramarital affair. She told police that Moore had grabbed a butter knife and threatened to harm her and himself.
The charges against Moore were eventually negotiated down to misdemeanor charges of trespassing and malicious use of a telecom device, and the 40-year-old pleaded no contest to both charges in March. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation on Tuesday.
Michigan’s hiring of Utah’s Kyle Whittingham was a necessary move to stabilize the football program while pursuing championship excellence
Michigan hired former longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham in late December and signed him to a five-year contract through the 2030 season. Whittingham had recently resigned from his position with the Utes after 21 seasons at the helm, where he went 177–88 with an 11–6 record in bowl games.
Upon hiring Whittingham, Manuel expressed his belief in the 66-year-old being the right man to put the program back on ethical ground.
“Kyle Whittingham is a well-respected and highly successful head coach who is widely recognized as a leader of exceptional character and principled leadership,” Manuel said at the time of hiring. “Throughout our search, he consistently demonstrated the qualities we value at Michigan: vision, resilience, and the ability to build and sustain championship-caliber teams. Kyle brings not only a proven track record of success, but also a commitment to creating a program rooted in toughness, physicality, discipline and respect—where student-athletes and coaches represent the university with distinction both on and off the field.”
While Whittingham has never won a national title, he’s also never had the resources at Utah that he will have at Michigan, where the Wolverines will give the legendary coach everything he needs to succeed in the Big Ten and give the program an opportunity to compete for championships.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Michigan AD Warde Manuel Is Still Picking Up the Pieces After Sherrone Moore’s Acrimonious Exit.
