It is alleged that the then University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore texted an OnlyFans model at half-time during his team’s resounding 27-9 defeat by Ohio State back in November.
It has also been reported that he previously contacted the same woman immediately after the 2024 national championship game, inviting her and a couple of her female pals from the online industry to join him in his Houston hotel suite for a celebratory foursome.
Salacious and entertaining as tales of his dexterous multitasking are, neither is why the married father of three was fired from his job.
“Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effective immediately,” the official university statement said on December 10th. “Following a university investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.”
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The staff member’s name was Paige Shiver, his executive assistant and apparently his mistress for the past number of years.
The daughter of a highly respected Chicago Bears’ scout, Shiver’s identity was initially kept private but hours after being told of his dismissal by the university, Moore turned up at her apartment in a complex just south of Ann Arbor.
In an agitated state, he gained entry through an unlocked door, grabbed butter knives and a pair of scissors from the kitchen, then threatened to stab himself to death in front of her.
“I’m going to kill myself,” he said. “I’m going to make you watch, you ruined my life, my blood is on your hands.”
[ Dave Hannigan: Pay, and payoffs, for college gridiron coaches is obscene ]
Shiver managed to call police who arrested Moore and, due to his troubled condition, took him first to St Joe’s Mercy Health System for psychiatric evaluation. Forty-eight hours later, he appeared in court in a prison jumpsuit via video call from Washtenaw County Jail to face charges of third-degree home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering.
He had begun that week holding down one of the most prominent gigs in the college game. He ended it leaving custody on a bond of $25,000 with a GPS tag on his leg, a commitment to getting mental health treatment and a stern warning from the judge that he was not to have any contact with Shiver.
In the aftermath of that incident, a fuller picture emerged of exactly how Moore’s life had unravelled so quickly.
Two days before Michigan showed him the door, Shiver had broken off their relationship and come clean to her employers about the affair. In the way of such things, reports since indicated the authorities already knew all about it.
The couple’s carry-on had been an open secret around campus, and they were once caught on camera together at a televised college lacrosse game.
If that cameo caused tongues to wag, many of the players he coached lived in the same apartment complex as Shiver and often witnessed him coming and going from her place at odd hours.
A seasoned observer of college football, truly the most rancid corner of the American sports universe, might wonder if Michigan finally decided to act simply because Moore’s coaching powers appeared to be waning.
After two campaigns, his record was an unimpressive 16 wins and eight defeats. How convenient that revelations about his private life allowed the university to get rid of him without paying off the three years and $18 million (€15 million) remaining on his contract.
Especially since The Athletic subsequently ran a detailed account about the fact Michigan also knew more than a year ago of instances in which he had made inappropriate contact with various other women on social media.
“According to a number of screenshots shared with The Athletic, Moore would ask seemingly innocuous questions or send emojis – the fire symbol, clapping hands, a wave – in response to stories posted and then attempt to engage the women in conversation,” the report said.
“‘How did we start following each other?’ he wrote to one woman, who reminded him that he began following her first. One woman with whom he shared mutual connections provided messages the two exchanged after he asked her if he could fly her to come see him (she does not live in Michigan).”
The institution was aware of that tawdry stuff early in his first season coaching the football team that generates around $200 million in annual revenue.
What else those in charge knew about his proclivities, and when, will no doubt emerge once his case wends its way through the courts.
Following other disturbing allegations that he was guilty of domestic violence against Shiver, whose salary nearly doubled during her time in his employ, the university has promised to conduct further investigations into culture and practices across all sports as they scramble to combat reams of negative news coverage.
Shiver’s desk was just 2ft from the door of Moore’s office in Schembechler Hall, a facility named for the most storied Michigan coach of all.
Bo Schembechler led his teams to 234 wins over two decades between 1969 and 1989. It later emerged he also failed to act on information received about Robert Anderson, the university sports doctor, sexually abusing dozens of his players during that time.
In 2022, the university paid nearly $500 million to alumni who suffered at Anderson’s hands. Yet these great moral arbiters saw fit to keep the name of the coach who stood idly by on the building where Moore worked.
College football. Nothing like it in the world.
Samaritans can be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on the freephone helpline number 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.ie
