Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanour charges, after being arrested and fired for an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant. The plea deal was reached on the day a judge was set to hear a challenge to his arrest on three charges, including felony home invasion.
In exchange for Moore's no contest pleas to trespassing and malicious use of a telecom device, the more serious charges were dropped. Authorities said Moore confronted the woman with whom he had been having an affair, blaming her for his dismissal and threatening to kill himself with butter knives in her apartment.
Moore was fired on 10 December after two seasons as head coach, succeeding Jim Harbaugh who left to lead the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers. The university cited an inappropriate relationship with a staff member as the reason for his dismissal. Assistant prosecutor Katie Rezmierski said the woman ended the affair days before Moore's firing and cooperated with the school's investigation.
The woman, who has accused Moore of domestic violence and stalking, did not respond to a dozen calls or some text messages from him before his dismissal, police said. Moore's attorney, Ellen Michaels, argued that the communications had a legitimate purpose and accused the woman's lawyer of trying to 'villainize' Moore to secure a large settlement from the university.
