A lawyer representing Paige Shiver, the former University of Michigan athletics staffer with whom ex-coach Sherrone Moore had a longstanding affair, suggested theschool is misleading the public with its summary of an investigation into what prompted Moore’s firing.
On Monday, July 20, the university released it’s own characterization of the findings and recommendations from Jenner & Block, a Chicago-based law firm paid more than $12 million to investigation the Moore situation and the broader culture of the department. The university acknowledged changes are needed and announced athletic director Warde Manuel is leaving his job at the end of the year.
But the university’s statement indicated, “outside investigators did not identify any current university employee with direct, contemporaneous evidence of the relationship” before Moore was fired in December 2025.
That’s not the whole story, said Andrew M. Stroth, a Chicago-based lawyer representing Shiver.
“From our perspective, the now departing athletic director, several coaches and university leadership were aware of a pattern and practice of abuse and Title IX violations within the athletic department long before December 2025. If the University is committed to transparency and accountability, it will release the full report,” Stroth said in an emailed statement.
Shiver and her lawyers sued the university recently, arguing they are illegally withholding records from the investigation. The university has repeatedly denied Free Press requests for the records; first, the university indicated it had no records, but more recently the university’s Freedom of Information Act office suggested releasing any records would violate attorney-client privilege.
Stroth also suggested a recent report from the Wall Street Journal included more details about the law firm’s findings than the university’s own release.
The report in the Journal, along with a report in The Athletic and Free Press insiders, suggests the investigation determined some at the university at least had suspicions about Moore’s conduct before his firing.
A lawsuit filed earlier this year by former assistant football coach Chris Partridge suggested in part Manuel and other leaders allegedly knew about Moore’s relationship with a staff member “for years without taking action to protect the employee.”
The Journal also reported Manuel told Moore in 2024 that Shiver could not go on official trips with the coach.
“I told him I didn’t remember if we had already discussed, but that she couldn’t accompany him on trips,” the report indicates Manuel wrote in a Aug. 29, 2024, handwritten note.
In a separate report published by The Athletic, players and staffers were said to have raised concerns about the relationship during preseason camp in 2024. It went on to say there was a complaint filed to human resources in regards to Moore and Shiver working out together in the team facility.
There is no reference to the note or the human resources complaint in the university’s release Monday. In fact, the university indicates the law firm reviewed more than 20,000 records but the school did not release any records related to the investigation.
“Maintaining the confidentiality of the investigation protects the privacy of the members of our community who participated, promotes the willingness of witnesses to participate in any future investigations by allaying concerns relating to privacy or risk of retaliation, preserves investigative integrity, and protects the attorney-client privilege that covers the investigation,” reads a university statement included in an FAQ about the investigation.
A university spokesman declined to comment.
In the past, Moore’s legal team declined to comment until the university “publicly releases the Jenner & Block report and issues its official statement.” The former coach’s legal team did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Dave Boucher is an investigative reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Reach him at dboucher@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Paige Shiver’s lawyer blasts Michigan for not releasing full investigation
