During a recent installment of First Take, Ryan Clark suggested that former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore’s firing over alleged inappropriate conduct and his subsequent arrest could have consequences for future Black coaches.
“I think from the Sherrone Moore point of view, you have to look at his failures as well,” said Clark, as seen around the 10:30 point of the segment above. “He failed, if these things are true, he failed his family. He failed the young men he was of leading and coaching. And he also failed a community of coaches who would love to follow him to get an opportunity to coach at a historically great university, like a Michigan. … That was the opportunity that he had, that he failed at. And we also have to think about this young lady, who was a subordinate, and what these accusations, or what these actions, will do to her for the rest of her life.”
Clark highlighted that the firing is significant because he was the first Black head coach at the University of Michigan. “There’s also a community of coaches that would love to follow in your footsteps, that will be judged because of your actions,” he continued. “He does have to, at some point, acknowledge that he has to be held accountable for that, whether these things are true and someone was after him or not. If you’re Michigan, you’re coming from two head coaches in a row, Jim Harbaugh and also Sherrone Moore, that [have] let the university down in some way.”
He added that he believes that, due to his race, he would not be afforded the opportunity to “rebound” in the way that Bobby Petrino did. Petrino was dismissed from his position as the head coach at the University of Arkansas in 2012 for covering up a extramaterial affair with a member of staff at the football facility, but he has since continued to serve as a coach at various other schools. “He will be treated like Michael Haywood, who in 2010 was supposed to be the next head coach of the University of Pittsburgh,” he said. “I just don’t think we could skip over how this situation is for Sherrone Moore and the decision making this situation he put himself in.”
Earlier this week, Moore was fired from his position as the head coach at Michigan University after an investigation found “credible evidence” that he engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Shortly after he was fired, he was detained by police in Saline, Michigan. While the full details of his arrest haven’t been revealed, 911 dispatch audio obtained by TMZ featured a woman accusing Moore of “attacking” her and “stalking her for months.”
Jemele Hill echoed Clark’s thoughts in a post shared on X, formerly Twitter, responding to Dov Kleiman accusing her of saying that Moore was fired because he’s Black.
“What I said was that Sherrone Moore’s firing is being used (by some) as some sort of example that there is a wider problem among Black coaches or as an example of why it will be harder to justify hiring Black coaches,” she wrote. “I find both to be a wider example of how the actions of one Black person is often used to paint all Black people with a bad brush. This doesn’t indict Black male coaches anymore than Lane Kiffin or Bobby Petrino’s actions indict white coaches. But the difference is that white coaches often get a chance to rehabilitate.”
She concluded that she doesn’t care about Moore, and that he “earned whatever is coming,” but it’s not right that “Black coaches will likely pay for what he’s done.”