Former Michigan Coach Escapes Prison Sentence for Unlawful Entry into Partner’s Residence

Former University of Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore has been placed on an 18-month probation following his arrest last December. The incident involved a confrontation with his ex-mistress and personal assistant at her residence, leading to this legal outcome.

Judge J. Cedric Simpson handed down prison sentences of 180 days and 30 days, both of which were suspended. This means Moore, aged 40, will avoid jail time provided he adheres to the terms of his probation. The judge expressed that incarceration was not deemed a suitable punishment in this case.

As part of his probation conditions, Moore is obligated to pay $1,100 in court fees and fines. He must also abstain from alcohol and other substances, continue receiving mental health treatment, and avoid any contact with Paige Shiver, his former mistress, who alerted authorities on the day of the incident.

Last month, Moore achieved a significant legal victory when more severe charges, including home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering, were dismissed. This was part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, where Moore entered a no-contest plea to lesser misdemeanor charges of trespassing and improper use of a telecom device in a personal relationship context.

The scandal unfolded on December 10, the day Moore was dismissed from his coaching position after the university discovered his affair with Shiver, then 32. His arrest followed shortly after, near Shiver’s apartment, where he was accused of forcefully entering her home and making threats of self-harm.

Shiver did not attend the hearing, but did release a statement saying the sentence ‘does not reflect the harm done to me.’

Former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore and his wife Kelli Moore walk into the courtroom of Judge J. Cedric Simpson, who later thanked her for her strength

Moore is seen hugging his wife, whom the judge credited for keeping the coach out of jail

Paige Shiver, Moore’s former assistant and alleged ex-mistress, no longer works at Michigan

‘He broke into my apartment, crying, yelling, enraged, and came at me with knives,’ Shiver said. ‘I was threatened, and I feared for my life.’

On Tuesday, Simpson stressed that Moore’s probation does not lessen ‘the impact of those events.’

He also delivered a stirring address, identifying Moore’s wife, Kelli, as the ‘person saving him from the full wrath of this court.’ 

Specifically, Simpson credited Kelli for her strength in managing for their daughters while frantically trying to help the police track down her husband on December 10. Simpson noted in one of the 911 calls from Kelli, he could hear the couple’s ‘babies’ in the background. 

Kelli also wrote Simpson a letter to urge him for leniency.   

‘The person who is saving you from the full wrath of this court is the person who you betrayed,’ Simpson said. ‘When all of the circumstances are happening to her, and she is absorbing them in real time, she not once loses her focus, not once bats an eye to doubt you, not once wants something terrible to happen to you. As I listened to the terror in her voice that day, I don’t think there would be anybody in the world who would have blamed her from saying, “I am done here.”

‘I am amazed by you, Ms. Moore,’ Simpson added. ‘I don’t know where it comes from. If we had more people like you in the world, I may be out of a job, but the world would be a better place.’ 

Sherrone Moore and wife Kelli Moore leave court Tuesday after he received probation 

Prior to his sentencing, Moore thanked Kelli for standing by him throughout this ordeal. 

‘Your Honor, first of all, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the grace and guidance during this difficult time,’ Moore said. ‘I want to thank my beautiful wife, Kelly, for her support, her strength, and standing by me.’

Simpson also thanked prosecutors for dropping their initial charges, including stalking, because it didn’t comport with additional facts that came out during trial.

Initially, police failed to indicate that Shiver was Moore’s employee when they were securing charges against the fired coach and that professional connection undermined the claim of stalking.

But Tuesday’s hearing wasn’t just about redemption and offering thanks. Simpson admonished Moore for his behavior on December 10, when he burst into Shiver’s apartment using the door code she’d previously given him. 

‘I know that she was placed in fear,’ Simpson said of Shiver, referring to her by name. ‘It was a traumatic experience that day for you. It was certainly a traumatic experience for her, but you had no right to spread your pain to her.’ 

Moore has been hoping to turn the page on the incident, but the married father of three was thrust back into the spotlight late last month when footage surfaced showing him blaming the entire ordeal on Shiver.

‘I have to spend a night in jail because she lied,’ Moore told officers from a Michigan hospital, where he was undergoing a mental health evaluation. ‘I never did anything to her. She straight up lied. She ruined my life… She’s lying. I wanted to get rid of her and she said I couldn’t because she’d sue me.’

Moore found a sympathetic audience with Michigan police, one of whom offered to call the coach ‘Mr. Moore.’ Another even gave Moore a supportive hug as he was getting out of the police cruiser.

At one point, an emotional officer told Moore he was ‘trying not to cry with you,’ and when the fired coach said ‘it’s always the women that try to do this s***,’ the cop on hand was quick to agree.

‘I understand, I’ve been doing this for 15 years,’ he said. ‘I can relate to you.’

On Tuesday, Simpson also admonished the police for their overly kind treatment of Moore when he was a suspect in their custody on December 10. 

Sherrone Moore is pictured in the back of a police cruiser after his December 10 arrest 

‘I want to make it real clear… the individual that did that was a member of the Sheriff’s office,’ Simpson said. ‘He is not a member of the court.’

Aside from obtaining information about the incident, the officers seemed primarily concerned with Moore’s threats about harming himself.

Moore acknowledged bringing scissors to her apartment, where he admittedly grabbed butter knives, but he insisted he never pointed them at his assistant.

‘I did not hold anything to her, touch her, and that’s when I drove on,’ Moore said. ‘That’s when I left. I drove and I was gonna harm [myself].’

Referencing the coach’s daughters, the officer stressed the importance that Moore remain in their lives as they grow older.

Shiver’s contract with the Wolverines has recently expired, an athletic department spokesman told the Daily Mail. 

Charges of home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering against Moore were all dropped

Sherrone Moore is pictured on the sideline alongside his ex-assistant Paige Shiver

A former offensive lineman at Oklahoma, the Kansas native became a graduate assistant coach at Louisville before getting added to head coach Charlie Strong’s full-time staff in 2012. Moore would go on to join Central Michigan as an assistant before being hired by now-former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh in 2019.

After winning the 2023 national championship as the Wolverines offensive coordinator, Moore was promoted to head coach in Ann Arbor as Harbaugh took the Los Angeles Chargers job in the NFL.

Getting another job in football won’t be easy and Michaels said his first priority is focusing on his wife and daughters.

‘He has had the opportunity to be with his daughters, to be with his wife, to be home for the holidays, to take his kids to swim lessons,’ Michaels said. ‘As somebody who came up the coaching tree and became a head coach at a young age, that is something he missed out on.’