Sherrone Moore will make his debut as Michigan’s full-time head coach on Saturday against Fresno State. He will do so without a contract, according to USA Today.
Moore and the Wolverines have reportedly not yet signed a contract that would include Moore as coach. That is a rare situation at the highest level of the sport, as coaching pay and security are critical to a program.
It’s been seven months since Moore was announced as the successor to Jim Harbaugh, who left the program for the NFL with a College Football Playoff title and a cloud of NCAA sanctions looming. The move was widely expected, as Moore served four games as the Wolverines’ head coach while Harbaugh served a suspension in 2023.
It was reported at the time that Michigan would give Moore a five-year contract with a salary of $6 million per year, which would put him on the low end for power program coaches and on the high end for first-time head coaches. Ohio State’s Ryan Day received $4.5 million per year after a similar promotion in 2019.
How can Michigan’s Sherrone Moore operate without a contract?
Without a contract, Moore and Michigan are reportedly operating under the memorandum of understanding Moore signed when he took the job in January. That deal would outline the basics of Moore’s tenure, such as his salary and bonuses.
Crucially, the memorandum is not binding. Coaches like contracts because they make them harder to fire. Schools like contracts because they make it harder for a coach to leave. Michigan and Moore are essentially free to do either without a contract. Given that Michigan, and Moore in particular, still face potential NCAA sanctions, that’s significant.
The memorandum also reportedly included a deadline for a full-time contract — a clause stating that it is “conditional upon the execution of a full-time employment agreement within 90 days of signing this MOU” — which was passed in April.
It’s unclear why Moore and Michigan haven’t put pen to paper yet. When asked by USA Today, Michigan said it expects it to happen soon:
“Coach Moore and his representative have been working with our university attorneys to finalize a fully executed contract and we expect to have it finalized shortly,” Michigan spokesman Dave Ablauf told USA TODAY Sports in an email on Wednesday.
Moore is apparently not alone on his own coaching staff in this regard. The only Michigan coach with a completed contract when USA Today received a response to its Freedom of Information Act request on Aug. 15 was defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale.
Michigan reportedly reported that “some” of the program’s assistant coaches had agreed to deals and “some” had signed contracts, but the company would not say what they were.
