More Bad News for Sherrone Moore as NCAA’s Agenda Nearly Confirmed After Michigan HC’s ‘Signgate’ Role Clarified

Moore to gain, but a lot Moore to lose! The passing of the baton from Jim Harbaugh to Sherrone Moore hasn’t exactly been seamless. Conceded, the standards set were almost unassailable for a first-year head coach. But as Michigan seeks to progress past its previous regime, one ugly appendage continues to drag along in the mud. Dulling and scratching the shine off their national championship for one. But more topically, hauling the new regime into that mud alongside it. 

It’s difficult to say what’s more egregious: Michigan’s infamous sign-stealing scandal itself? Or the way it has tediously dragged on. The NCAA is notorious for being laboured in passing finalized verdicts on its probes and cases. On theme, this ‘advanced scouting’ case, as it’s called, hasn’t advanced much at all. There’s been discourse ad nauseam and even a Netflix documentary about defensive analyst Connor Stalions’ illicit antics from the ‘23 season. But as we stand here at the outset of the ‘25 season, there is still no end to this. At this point, even the Michigan brass seems to want to accept whatever reprimand is imposed on them and their staff. Just to get closure and put an end to a saga that has led many to put an asterisk on their Natty. Well, they’ve quite strangely extended an olive branch to the NCAA themselves in an unprecedented development. 

Michigan has placed self-imposed sanctions on HC Sherrone Moore, while the NCAA’s punishment is pending. The ‘criminal’ has walked up to the cops, turned themselves in, and even put themselves behind bars. Coach Moore has been suspended from all team activities for 2 games in Weeks 3 and 4. The leapfrogging here is a whole ‘nother can of worms in itself. But more importantly, does this preemptive self-sanction give Michigan any leverage with the NCAA? You’d assume so, right? After all, why would you suspend your head coach unprovoked unless it would lessen the blow down the line? Turns out, Michigan has largely taken this step in the dark. ESPN insider Pete Thamel, who broke the news about Sherrone Moore’s suspension, guested on the College GameDay podcast to discuss the next phase of this saga: The NCAA’s own actions. It doesn’t sound too good for Coach Moore.

“I would say that you know what happens June 6th and 7th is going to dictate the timeline of the rest of this,” remarked Thamel. Those dates are when the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions will hold the hearing in the Michigan case. Thamel then said, “So there’ll be a decision from the committee [in] around 6 weeks [from then]. Somewhere in that neighborhood. So now all of a sudden, you’re pushing [things] into camp and [football] season. But then the appeal [from Michigan] would come pretty soon after that.” This is obviously making the pretty certain assumption that UMich will indeed appeal the verdict. No way they accept it on face value. Thamel proceeded to air a scenario that makes Sherrone Moore’s absence longer than the current 2 games.

“The NCAA, in theory, could expedite that timeline. Make a decision soon after, and sort of force Michigan’s hand to have to deal with this in the 2025 season,” remarked Pete Thamel. The current notion is that Michigan has managed to kick the can down the road, and there won’t be any penalties in the immediate. Barring the 2 games they’ve essentially hand-picked, seemingly because they face Sherrone Moore’s alma mater of Oklahoma prior, he won’t have to miss any more time. However, Thamel has confirmed the additional punishment, if any, could be tacked along in the ‘25 season itself. He even said that he “can’t guarantee” Coach Moore won’t be suspended in weeks 1 and 2. This segues into the elephant in the room. What was the scope of Sherrone Moore’s involvement in the scandal?

Sherrone Moore is facing major repercussions for a relatively minor violation

“Moore’s suspension ties back to Moore allegedly deleting a thread of 52 text messages with Stalions,” read an excerpt from the Pete Thamel-ESPN report. “The alleged deletions came in October of 2023, the same day that media reports detailed that Stalions spearheaded the advanced scouting scheme.” The NCAA bylaws dictate Sherrone Moore’s actions were a Level 2 violation. Thamel’s colleague Dan Wetzel, who co-broke the story of Michigan’s self-imposed sanction, delved deeper into what makes Coach Moore an accomplice in this ordeal.

Over The Rich Eisen Show, Wetzel said, “[Sherrone Moore’s] going to miss two games because he deleted [the messages]. There’s nothing incriminating in the text thread. But it was deemed a failure to comply, or that was the allegation. And so he’s going to get suspended.” Wetzel also proceeded to detail the premise and subject matter of those deleted texts. “I mean, it’s really only about [52] text messages over a few years. So it wasn’t like they were in constant communication or anything. I think there was something about a blitz package that Michigan State uses or something like that. But again, this would be normal text…It was not Sherrone Moore saying, ‘Hey, make sure you scout the Buckeyes’ game,’ or ‘Send your cousin to the Buckeyes’ game to film the sideline.’ That did not occur.” 

This entire ordeal stems from Connor Stalions allegedly sending people to games of Michigan’s prospective opponents. There, they’d film the coach’s signals and gestures for play calls. Which is illegal. Stalions would then assimilate the footage and bring it back to Ann Arbor for them to decipher and gain an edge. Allegedly. Stalions was possibly a mere pawn in a much bigger operation. But that’s neither here nor there. For now, it’s Sherrone Moore who is facing the repercussions. Jim Harbaugh jumping ship to the NFL means it’s his then-offensive coordinator who’s stood directly in the firing line. Staring down the barrel of a potentially longer suspension than he’s already received.

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