Josh Pate: Michigan knew about Sherrone Moore relationship in September

The firing and arrest of Sherrone Moore hit the sports world like a Mack truck on Wednesday evening, but subsequent reports sure make it seem as if there was a lot more smoke coming from Ann Arbor than the average sports fan realized.

And while Josh Pate was not the one to report Moore’s dismissal, the independent college football commentator has come out with some of the more fascinating details since Moore was let go, including a timeline that suggests Michigan was contemplating this move as far back as the opening month of the season.

In an instant reaction video posted to his own YouTube channel on Wednesday evening, Pate stated that he was aware the Wolverines could make a change dating back to the team’s Oct. 11 loss to USC. And in an appearance on the Stugotz and Company podcast on Thursday, Pate suggested he first heard about the possibility as early as the end of September.

“I’d say early to mid-October is when I was first made aware of it,” Pate said. It may have been late September. It was early in the season. You heard about it. Now, there’s a reason I don’t call myself a reporter or a journalist. Because it would have been my duty, at that point, to thoroughly investigate that.”

So Pate did not dig into the weeds of why Moore was on the hot seat or what the salacious behind-the-scenes rumors were at the time. But, he said, he did keep an eye on the situation in Ann Arbor.

“All the while, it was articulated to me, ‘We expect the Michigan job to come open,'” Pate continued. “All the players behind the scenes expected the Michigan job to come open. But it was always also told to me, it’s going to be a different timetable, and it may be after the season.”

But as Moore led Michigan to a strong performance in Big Ten play, the school remained patient until Wednesday, when athletic director Warde Manuel fired Moore for cause, citing an investigation that uncovered an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

In the aftermath of his dismissal, Moore was arrested by local authorities.

Pete believes the explosive situation could have been avoided, somewhat ironically, by a worse season.

“If they had been 8-4, they may have just fired him for competitive reasons and tried to sweep this under the rug,” Pate said. “Because yeah, people knew about it. But the mass public didn’t know about it. And they’d just conduct a coaching search. But it didn’t happen that way.”

In fact, Pate explained, Moore was never believed to be a long-term answer for the Wolverines.

“It was always disseminated from people inside Michigan that Sherrone was, for lack of a better term, a ‘bridge’ head coach,'” Pate said.

Moore was appointed in the aftermath of an NCAA investigation into the program that revealed evidence of sign-stealing efforts under former head coach John Harbaugh. But according to Pate, the plan was not to keep Moore around after the dust settled.

Now, a move that apparently was rumored for the entire 2025 season, if not longer, has seemingly been set into motion by Moore’s improprieties. Unfortunately, the Wolverines have arrived late to the coaching carousel and may not have an easy solution, especially as chaos envelops the program in the wake of Moore’s departure.