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Jake Trotter
Multiple Authors
Former Michigan football staffer Paige Shiver characterized her relationship with Sherrone Moore as an “open secret” within the athletic department and said those in leadership didn’t do enough to protect her from the former Wolverines coach.
“He controlled everything that was going on in my life,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview that aired Friday, “and they didn’t do anything about it.”
Michigan fired Moore on Dec. 10 after Shiver told the university the two had been in a relationship, which the school determined had violated his contract. Two days prior, she had broken off the relationship.
Moore, 40, responded to the firing by driving to Shiver’s apartment and confronting her. Shiver, 32, told police that the married father of three grabbed a butter knife and threatened to harm himself.
After leaving the apartment, Moore was taken into custody in the parking lot of a church after his wife called police saying he was a threat to himself. On body camera video, Moore didn’t deny the relationship to police but was adamant that he neither broke into the apartment nor threatened Shiver.
Last month, Moore pleaded no contest to trespassing and malicious use of a telecommunications device involving a domestic relationship in exchange for the dropping of more serious charges, including a felony. He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation and barred from having any contact with Shiver.
Shiver said Moore “should have gotten more punishment for what he did,” including going to jail.
“I don’t think it reflects what he did to me,” she told ABC News. “He took no accountability.”
In response to Shiver’s claims, Michigan provided ABC News with a statement: “The University of Michigan terminated Sherrone Moore promptly upon discovering his undisclosed workplace relationship with a direct report. His conduct violated university policy, and we expect more from our leaders. The University of Michigan is committed to ensuring a professional and respectful workplace for all members of its community.”
Shiver said their consensual relationship began in 2022, when she was an intern at Michigan and Moore was the Wolverines’ offensive coordinator under former coach Jim Harbaugh. When Moore succeeded Harbaugh as head coach in 2024, Shiver was promoted to executive assistant.
Shiver said she was often told by members of the Michigan coaching staff to console Moore “to calm him down” when he was upset, sometimes even during halftime. She said she went along with it because she feared for her job security.
“No one cared about my feelings. They wanted to use me to help him so that they could get through the season,” she said. “He and other coaches had control over my career, especially him. He could fire me in a second.”
Shiver said Moore used manipulation tactics, including self-harm, whenever she tried to end the relationship.
“Every time I tried to pull away, he always had a story,” she said. “Always a way to pull me in and make me feel that I couldn’t leave him because he was so miserable without me.”
Shiver said that during their relationship she became pregnant in 2022 but that doctors told her she couldn’t go through with the pregnancy due to health reasons. According to Shiver, Moore told her that she “had to do what was right” for her body.
She said she feared for her life when Moore entered her apartment Dec. 10.
“All of a sudden I hear footsteps and they’re getting closer and louder. And so I run to my door to try to lock it,” Shiver recalled. “He barges in, and he’s standing this close to me. And he said, ‘You ruined my life. Why would you do this to me?’ And then I start backing up and he starts following me.”
Shiver said that’s when Moore started grabbing the butter knives.
According to text messages Shiver shared with ABC News, Moore texted “I hate you” and “My blood is on your hands” to Shiver after the incident.
Asked for a response to Shiver’s account, Ellen Michaels, Moore’s attorney, told ABC News that Moore “has closed this chapter.”
Shiver’s employment contract with Michigan was not renewed this offseason.
In the fall, Michigan conducted an investigation into Moore and Shiver, but both parties denied the relationship. Shiver told ABC News that she didn’t disclose the relationship then because she didn’t trust the process that she felt had protected Moore.
“They knew the things that he was doing to me, and no one did anything about it because they cared more about winning football games, not having another scandal and trying to protect the head coach,” she said.
In November, the university contracted with Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block to further investigate. It has since commissioned the firm to conduct a thorough review into the practices and culture of the athletic department following a series of scandals, including the advanced sign-stealing operation that happened under Harbaugh.
Moore was suspended for two games last season as part of self-imposed sanctions by the university. That suspension tied back to allegations that he deleted a thread of 52 text messages with Connor Stalions, who orchestrated in-person scouting of Michigan’s future opponents, a violation of NCAA rules.
In late December, Michigan hired former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham to replace Moore.
