Michigan football players are, understandably, angry in the wake of the Sherrone Moore scandal as they try to prepare for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.
Interim coach Biff Poggi spoke with reporters for the first time on Monday since he was tasked with taking over the program after Moore was fired and then arrested hours later. Poggi has spent the last several days speaking with players and parents, just trying to listen and be as helpful as he can.
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But his players, he said, feel betrayed.
“It’s been a tumultuous time,” Poggi said, via ESPN. “A lot of … first disbelief, then anger, then really, what we’re in right now is the kids, quite frankly, feel very betrayed, and we’re trying to work through that.”
Moore was fired on Wednesday after Michigan said that he “engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.” Moore was then detained by police hours later. Moore was eventually charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering or entering without breaking after his detainment.
Moore, prosecutors said, had an intimate relationship with the victim of the home invasion for several years. The prosecutor said that the victim broke up with Moore earlier in the week and then revealed the relationship to the school. After Moore was fired, prosecutors said that he broke into the victim’s home and threatened to take his own life.
Moore had been Michigan’s offensive coordinator under previous head coach Jim Harbaugh, and he was promoted to take over after Harbaugh left for the NFL. Moore finished with a 17-8 record as Michigan’s head coach in the two seasons that he was in charge.
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Poggi, a former head coach at Charlotte, also served as Michigan’s interim head coach earlier this season while Moore served a two-game suspension after the sign-stealing scandal within the program.
Athletic director Ward Manuel turned to Poggi to run the program again while they search for a permanent replacement. He’ll lead the Wolverines in their bowl game later this month when they take on Texas in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31.
While there has been the normal football prep, Poggi said there has also been “lots of arms around shoulders, lots of listening,” and both telling and showing his players that he loves them.
“I don’t know that you can prepare for something like this,” Poggi said. “It’s been complicated. I want to listen to them. I want to understand what the kids are feeling and what their parents are feeling, and so a lot of listening, and there’s been a wide range of emotions, and we are going through those steps.
“They’re not over yet, and I don’t expect them to be over for a while. The mandate that Warde Manuel gave me as the athletic director when he asked me to be the interim coach, was to love and take care of the kids, and so that’s what I’m spending all of my time doing.”
Poggi also made clear that he’s not forcing anyone to either play or not play in the bowl game, and that it remains a “personal decision” for each player in the wake of the scandal.
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But having to prepare for a football game with so much going on, he said, has actually been extremely helpful.
“Because when they’re inside that rectangle for those hours that we’re either in meetings or practicing, it’s a bit of a sanctuary,” he said. “And a chance to not think about what is a constant barrage of media questions and things like that.”
