Jemele Hill Doesn’t Believe Sherrone Moore Will Get a Second Chance at Coaching Because He’s Black

Former ESPN anchor Jemele Hill believes that recently fired Michigan coach Sherrone Moore will likely not get a second chance in coaching, unlike many of his white peers, because he is black.

Moore was fired on Wednesday, for cause, after a staffer with whom he had an “inappropriate relationship” presented administrators with proof of their illicit affair. Athletic Director Warde Manuel fired Moore for the affair and for previously claiming he was not having an affair during a university investigation.

The 39-year-old coach and married father of three then allegedly went to the home of the woman he had an affair with, recently identified as Paige Shiver. Shiver called police, claiming Moore had been “stalking her for months,” and he was taken into custody, where he remains as of Friday morning.

Hill took to X to draw a comparison between Moore’s case and that of other black head coaches, and to make the case why she believes Moore’s future will differ significantly from that of the white coaches who have had similar incidents.

“Though I think Sherrone Moore is a cornball, before we start painting his firing, Mel Tucker’s, and Ime Udoka’s as some kind of indictment of black male coaches, let me remind you of the following names: Hugh Freeze, Bobby Petrino, Rick Pitino, Mike Price, among others. The difference is in who gets a second chance to be a head coach. And you can guess who usually gets another chance,” Hill wrote.

The case of Ime Udoka actually contradicts Hill’s point. Udoka was suspended for the 2022 season for having an inappropriate relationship with a female Celtic employee. However, he was hired by the Rockets almost immediately after his suspension.

In Tucker’s case, he can’t be hired for anything “athletically related” because he’s serving a three-year show-cause penalty stemming from his firing over sexual harassment allegations and the numerous recruiting violations that occurred during his tenure.

In that same vein, it must be said that Moore is facing more than just a firing over an affair. He also, allegedly, went to a woman’s house with a knife and threatened her and himself. While Bobby Petrino, Rick Pitino, and Mike Price all erred grievously, they did not escalate their poor choices to the point of assault or threatened assault with a deadly weapon.

Moore is due in court for arraignment on Friday.