ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore was sentenced to 18 months’ probation on Tuesday after entering a no-contest plea for two misdemeanor charges last month.
Moore, 40, was also fined $1,000 for the charges, which were filed after a confrontation at the apartment of an executive assistant with whom he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship, ESPN reported.
Fired as Michigan’s head coach on Dec. 10 after two seasons, Moore pleaded no contest to trespassing and malicious use of a telecommunications device involving a domestic relationship. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop more serious charges.
He had been facing a felony charge of home invasion that carried a prison sentence of up to five years and a $2,000 fine.
District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson said Moore’s offense did not warrant jail time, but delivered a stern warning to Moore during the hearing in Washtenaw County Court, The Athletic reported.
“I don’t believe, when I look at the entirety of this situation, that incarceration should be appropriate,” Simpson said. “I warn you, Mr. Moore, should there be a violation, all bets are off. I don’t like sending people to jail, but I don’t have a problem doing it.
“Frankly, Mr. Moore, you had no right to do what you did,” Simpson said. “I know she was placed in fear. It was a traumatic experience for you -- it was certainly a traumatic experience for her -- but you had no right to spread your pain to her.”
Michigan fired Moore for cause, according to The Athletic. The staff member identified herself as Paige Shiver, Moore’s former executive assistant, in a statement issued through her lawyers after Moore’s plea agreement.
[ Fired Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore charged ]
Shiver, 32, who did not attend the hearing, said that Moore’s sentence “does not reflect the harm done to me.”
“He broke into my apartment, crying, yelling, enraged, and came at me with knives,” Shiver said, according to ESPN. “I was threatened, and I feared for my life.”
“I would let Ms. Shiver know that this court is not by any means lessening the impact of those events,” Simpson said in court.
Prosecutors originally claimed that Moore, who is married, sent his former assistant repeated unwanted communications after she tried to break off contact and made their relationship public, according to the sports news outlet.
Police said that Moore confronted Shiver at her apartment after his dismissal and threatened bodily harm to himself with butter knives and kitchen scissors, The Associated Press reported.
Moore was later taken into custody in the parking lot of a church in Saline, Michigan, according to The Athletic.