Michigan Monday: A Suspension Of Disbelief

The witch hunt has claimed another victim.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore is reportedly going to be suspended for two games this season for his involvement in the Connor Stalions allegations.

It’s crazy how this keeps happening.

Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel of ESPN are reporting that the school is going to impose a two-game suspension on Moore for deleting text messages with Connor Stalions on the day the news broke about Stalions’ advanced scouting scheme back in October of 2023.

The punishment would seem to be in reaction to the notion that Moore was attempting to hide evidence in what was going to become a sizable investigation. The reality, however, is that Moore deleted the texts out of anger that Stalions could do something so egregious to Michigan and the Wolverine football players.

Though, it does beg the question of what Moore could have possibly been so angry at considering Michigan said there wasn’t really any kind of wrongdoing going on. But let’s ignore that for now. Nothing good can come from that line of thinking.

If you are not familiar with the Connor Stalions situation, there is a great documentary on Netflix that sheds light on the entire story. Basically, this nice guy named Connor gives football tickets to his friends and family and all he asks in return is for them to have a great time and maybe send back a memento or two of their trip. Like a pennant or a video file.

And the NCAA absolutely hated him for it.

Talk about no good deed going unpunished, right?

And Sherrone Moore, who is now in his second year as Michigan’s head coach, somehow got caught up in the undertow. Moore was formerly the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach under former head coach Jim Harbaugh. Moore then took over for Harbaugh — who left for the NFL — following Michigan’s national title win in 2023.

While Moore has yet to equal Jim Harbaugh’s overall success as head coach at Michigan, he has already bypassed Harbaugh in number of times suspended by the University of Michigan. Moore was previously suspended by Michigan for the season opener in 2023 due to a Level II recruiting violation found during the NCAA’s investigation into several violations under Harbaugh’s watch during the COVID years.

Moore is still far short of Harbaugh’s NCAA record of being suspended by three different entities in one 12-month span, however.

Michigan’s intention is to have Moore serve this suspension in weeks three and four of the 2025 season. If he gets his card punched in the next few years in weeks two, five, and six, he earns a free sandwich at Zingerman’s!

Week three this year is a game against Central Michigan, but as we know, being restricted from the sideline of a Central Michigan game doesn’t always keep Michigan staffers from following through on said restriction.

Week four is a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska. The real punishment here would be allowing him to attend the game, but making him drive there.

Michigan’s plan would allow for Moore to coach the first two weeks of the season, which has the Wolverines opening up against New Mexico and then traveling to Oklahoma in week two. Moore is an Oklahoma graduate, so Michigan thought it would be a nice gesture to allow him to take part in that particular game.

(It’s a known fact that the NCAA loves it when the institutions are thinking of the violators when they come up with their self-imposed punishments.)

Admittedly, the suspension comes as a surprise given the fact that Michigan’s response to the NCAA back in the winter was that none of the deleted texts implicated Moore or the university. Sure, there was mention of sign stealing, but that’s way different than admitting to any knowledge of advanced scouting.

If you ignore his previous infraction and previous suspension and the whole deal where he was deleting texts, suspending Moore for two games for a Level II violation seems pretty excessive.

But this is how a strong statement is made.

The next step for Michigan and Moore comes June 6 and 7 when they meet with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions to hear the NCAA’s thoughts. Both sides will present their cases, then the committee will hand down its punishments eight to 12 weeks after the hearing.

Assuming there will even be any more punishments.

Thankfully, the end of this national nightmare is almost here and a full resolution is upon us.

Michigan has to feel pretty good about where they are sitting right now.

Unless, of course, the NCAA does not agree that Sherrone Moore’s two-game suspension for one Level II violation is enough of a punishment to cover four other Level II violations and six more serious Level I violations.

But what are the chances of that?

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