“I do not condone or tolerate anyone doing anything illegal or against NCAA rules.” This was Jim Harbaugh in 2023 when the NCAA suspended the then-Wolverines HC for the sign-stealing scandal. To this day, the full truth behind the controversy remains murky. Harbaugh ultimately accepted his Big Ten suspension and left Michigan to embark on his NFL journey, leading many to believe the saga was finally behind them. However, just when it seemed like Michigan could move forward, the scandal resurfaced again in 2025—this time threatening someone who played a crucial role in delivering the Wolverines’ 2023 championship. And with the controversy gaining fresh momentum, things could take an unexpected turn.

Sherrone Moore has been a part of the Michigan Program for over six years now. Currently serving as the head coach, Moore was offensive coordinator when the allegations against Harbaugh and his coaching staff were leveled by the NCAA. The allegations also followed various WhatsApp messages deleted by the current HC following the controversy. But, the major revelation is out on to the consequences that Sherrone Moore could face following the controversy.

Well, Clayton Sayfie and Anthony Broome, who run ‘The Wolverine: Michigan‘ podcast on YouTube have a potential theory, Sayfie said, “I mean 100 percent and I think in terms of real-life impact here for the team on the field, it would be a potential Sherrone Moore suspension”. For context, Jim Harbaugh also faced several weeks’ suspension at the end of the season, which was in lieu of his alleged illicit efforts to pre-scout their opponents in person. But wait there’s more.

He further added, “We’ve kind of talked about that that could be on the table, that could be something that could happen I think. That’s partly why Michigan is fighting this so vigorously because they don’t want their head coach to be suspended over innocuous text messages that got deleted.” And, he is right again because Michigan has not accepted any allegation against Moore and said that the deleted text messages were not to hide anything, but were done out of anger by Coach Moore, who didn’t have any evidence related to the allegations.

Sayfie also pointed out the punishment Moore could potentially face in the aftermath. “I’m sure they’ll get some sort of punishment or a large fine. Could be a 10 to 15 million fine which would be obviously pretty big, but not something Michigan couldn’t pay. I would think personally potential scholarship reduction and something like that, although you can get around that too if you just use NIL.”

Top Comment by Bye Bye Blue

Coach H thought the dude standing right next to him in the picture was Sherrone’s buddy, Popeye the Sailor Man.

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Debate

Well, the speculation is pretty serious for both Coach Moore and the Michigan team as well, who would try to get out of this rut as soon as possible. Even if they could realistically pay $15 Million, still that would be detrimental for Moore and Michigan both. But, how did we reach this point?

Sherrone Moore’s alleged involvement in the controversy

The NCAA alleged that Coach Moore and head coach Harbaugh, through their analyst Connor Stalions, used to pre-scout the opponent’s game in person in a bid to record their signs. The NCAA alleged that Stalions sent all the information to Moore via WhatsApp, making Moore central to the allegations. The allegations strongly linked to many of the messages. But how?

Well, Yahoo Sports accessed several text messages from August 2022. The August message describes Stallion talking to Moore on WhatsApp about “needing time to meet with the coach to discuss a juicy report on Colorado State“. Notably, Michigan opened the season too with a game against Colorado State. Furthermore, another message talks about how “Michigan played Michigan State every year and Michigan State never changed its signals” [per Yahoo Sports]. There are several messages accessed by the media outlet in a 134-page document that may contain more information than mentioned. But what’s next now?

Well, Stalions has since been dismissed from Michigan and the team is still denying any involvement of Coach Moore. It said in the document, “Numerous factually unsupported infractions, exaggerate aggravating factors and ignore mitigating facts. The school requests that the NCAA apply common sense and commitment to fairness and treat the case not as a serious Level I infractions case but a Level II standard case“.

Notably, Level 2 cases are cases in which evidence is very scarce and the consequences are rare. The verdict? Well, the case will expectedly go on for some time now, and thus it has to be seen if allegations against Coach Moore hold any ground.