Whenever a major institution finds itself in a pickle, there’s an important question regarding the extent to which transparency will apply to the de-pickling process.
The folks at the University of Michigan have opted for partial transparency when it comes to the aftermath of the two-year tenure of Sherrone Moore, who was abruptly fired in December 2025 for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a member of the staff.
Michigan commissioned a full investigation, hiring the law firm of Jenner & Block to handle it. It cost more than $12 million. (The law business remains undefeated.)
On Monday, Michigan announced that Athletic Director Warde Manuel will leave at the end of the calendar year (it was couched as voluntary). It also released not the full report but a carefully-written summary of it.
Whether Michigan, a public institution, can conceal the full report becomes a legal-research project that I’ve got neither the time nor inclination to perform. (If there’s an argument to be made in court that the entire report must be disclosed, someone will surely make it.) The summary encapsulated the various issues that arose under Moore and his predecessor, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, in the most positive terms possible. (The review was sparked by Moore’s alleged misconduct; Harbaugh isn’t mentioned anywhere in the summary.)
“The culture review found that the football program’s prominence and organizational structure created unique oversight challenges,” the summary explains. “As the Department’s most visible program with the largest roster, coaching staff, and support organization, football requires particularly strong oversight and accountability. The culture review concluded that existing oversight mechanisms were not sufficiently effective and recommended strengthening leadership oversight, clarifying responsibilities, enhancing reporting relationships and improving compliance processes.”
In other words, and as is surely the situation at other big-time, successful college programs, Michigan football was popular, profitable, and in turn powerful. The full university supported it. Anyone who pushed back risked becoming a pariah.
That created a situation where the football program essentially ran itself, and when it ran into trouble (e.g., the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal, which also isn’t mentioned in the summary) the knee-jerk reaction was to circle the wagons and to deny and/or downplay the situation.
As to Manuel, the summary provided a glass-half-full assessment that ultimately didn’t save him from being shown the door (or, officially, choosing to use it on his own): “The culture review found that Warde Manuel demonstrated important leadership strengths, particularly his commitment to student-athletes. At the same time, it identified failures to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing by Athletic Department employees.”
To put it all as simply as possible as it relates to the NFL, Harbaugh picked the perfect time to leave Ann Arbor. He’d won a national championship, successfully fending off multiple NCAA investigations long enough to finish the job and hit the road.
And while Michigan has been cleaning up various messes in his wake (while more recently dealing with a new one created by his top assistant), nothing changes the fact that Harbaugh delivered the program’s first national title in 26 years.
Here’s the inescapable reality — most college football fans would gladly accept the embarrassing complications later for a championship now. Especially if the $12 million investigation results in a summary aimed at concealing the full extent of the embarrassment.
