Before Sherrone Moore made headlines with his firing, he did so with his last staff hire at Michigan.
Special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs, a veteran football coach who spent eight seasons at arch-rival Ohio State, signed a memorandum of understanding with Michigan on Dec. 6 that made him the program’s newest assistant coach.
The two-page document, obtained by The Ann Arbor News/ MLive on Tuesday via a public records request with the school, outlined Coombs’ pay as the team’s new special teams coordinator. Moore was listed as a receiving party on the signed agreement.
Per terms of the deal, Coombs would receive a base salary of $600,000 for the next two seasons, keeping him at Michigan through January 2028. The agreement went into effect on Dec. 8.
“This offer is contingent upon the successful completion of the University’s pre-employment requirements, as well as the execution of a full employment agreement within 90 days of signing this MOU, to be mutually agreed upon and negotiated in good faith,” the outlined letter, sent from deputy athletic director Doug Gnodtke to Coombs, said.
Four days after Coombs signed it, and two days after its execution date, Moore was abruptly fired by school officials over an extramarital affair with a football staffer. He was later arrested following an incident at the staffer’s residence in nearby Pittsfield Township and charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking and entering without breaking.
Moore’s dismissal leaves the Michigan assistants, Coombs especially, in a bind. All of them are working with at least one year left on their contracts with the school (some, two years) while athletic director Warde Manuel, with help from an executive search firm, looks for a new football coach.
If the new coach chooses not to retain the assistants, Michigan would be on the hook to make some additional payouts. Coombs’ MOU does not reference either side terminating the deal over a change to the head coach.
Coombs, 64, was set to bring a level of veteran experience and high-level recruiting to the Michigan coaching staff. He previously served as Cincinnati’s special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach from 2022 to 2024, and before that was Ohio State’s defensive coordinator in 2020 and ‘21.
An Ohio native, Coombs’ willingness to jump ship in the rivalry came as a surprise to many. He has already joined the team for meetings and practices and will help coach against Texas in the Dec. 31 Citrus Bowl.
Moore fired his previous special teams coordinator, JB Brown, earlier in the month.