Michigan is firing Sherrone Moore, sources confirmed to FootballScoop.
The firing, a week and a half after the conclusion of Michigan's regular season, is expected to be for cause, according to ESPN.
Michigan now has issued a statement from athletics director Warde Manuel that confirms Moore's firing and also immediately states that Moore has been terminated with cause after two seasons atop the storied Michigan Wolverines program.
Per Manuel's statement:
"U-M head football coach Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effectively immediately.
"Following a university investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. This conduct constitutes a clear violation of University policy, and U-M maintains zero tolerance for such behavior.
"Biff Poggi has been appointed head football coach in an interim capacity, effective immediately."
A Michigan source told FootballScoop, "It was an open secret in the (football) building" in regards to Moore's job being in jeopardy due to off-the-field reasons.
Moore went 16-8 in two seasons as Michigan's head coach; his official mark for this season stands at 7-3, due to his 2-game suspension as a result of the Connor Stalions advanced scouting scandal that rocked Michigan's 2023 season. That season, which ended in a national championship, helped push Jim Harbaugh to the NFL and Moore into the head coaching chair.
Moore had been with the program since 2018, first as tight ends coach and then moved to offensive line in 2021, which coincided with Michigan's run that saw three straight wins over Ohio State, three straight Big Ten titles, three straight College Football Playoff berths, and the aforementioned national title.
While Michigan has dipped from its scandal-ridden national championship season under Jim Harbaugh in 2023, a year that saw Harbaugh suspended multiple games and eventually left Harbaugh to bounce to the NFL before he was slapped with an NCAA-record-long Show-Cause punishment, the Wolverines closed the 2025 season with nine wins.
The lost badly to Big Ten Conference newcomer USC and archrival Ohio State as well as a non-conference game against SEC program and College Football Playoff participant Oklahoma.
The Wolverines are slated to play Texas, preseason No. 1 but also 9-3, in the Cheez-Its Bowl in Orlando, Florida, on New Year's Eve.
Several sources at Michigan told FootballScoop in recent weeks that things inside the program "felt off" and that "morale is really low."
At one point, a Michigan coach said, "We're 7-2, but it sure feels like we're 2-7 around here."
Moore's termination for off-the-field transgressions, per the school, marks a second-straight coach to leave the program amidst a burgeoning scandal.
Harbaugh, who also was harshly penalized by the NCAA late in his Michigan tenure due to significant recruiting violations, was issued a record 10-year Show-Cause penalty by the NCAA, the longest punishment ever doled out by college athletics's governing body to any head football coach. It stemmed from Harbaugh's refusal to cooperate with investigators and alleged complicity in Connor Stallions' sign-stealing scandal that rocked college football two years ago.