Over seven months prior, the University of Michigan revealed that Sherrone Moore had been named the new head football coach, and they planned to provide him with a five-year contract valued at about $6 million annually.

However, as of Wednesday, the contract has not yet been fully executed, placing Moore in a position of uncertainty as the Wolverines gear up for their season opener against Fresno State this Saturday.

According to a spokesperson from the athletic department, Moore still does not have a signed contract, making him one of the few Football Bowl Subdivision coaches at the start of the 2024 season without a finalized agreement.

At 38 years old, Moore is currently operating under a brief three-page memorandum of understanding (MOU) that he signed in January. This document lays out key aspects of his future contract, including salary and bonus provisions, but lacks the detailed terms often found in a standard coaching contract. Notably absent are stipulations that define the conditions under which Moore, who is under the NCAA’s scrutiny for a possible sign-stealing incident, could be dismissed for cause.

“Coach Moore and his representative are currently collaborating with our university attorneys to finalize a comprehensive contract, and we anticipate its completion shortly,” said Michigan spokesperson Dave Ablauf in an email to YSL News Sports.

Attempts to contact Moore’s agent for comment were unsuccessful.

Memorandums of understanding are quite frequent in collegiate athletics. They often serve as temporary agreements that allow a coach to begin working before every detail of a contract is finalized, especially during recruiting seasons. Typically, these MOUs are transitioned into comprehensive contracts within a few months, if not weeks, and many come with a defined deadline for negotiations.

In Moore’s case, the memorandum specifies that his offer is contingent upon signing a full employment agreement within 90 days of the MOU, which means the deadline elapsed on April 25.

Martin Greenberg, a Milwaukee attorney and sports law professor at Marquette University, explained that Moore is essentially working without an enforceable contract, which creates risks for both him and the university, including the potential for legal issues.

“You’re functioning under an agreement to agree, which has defined terms but isn’t legally binding,” he noted.

Coaches under an MOU may not be overly concerned about the lack of a formal contract as long as they receive the compensation promised. However, Greenberg cautioned that this kind of arrangement could become problematic if tensions rise between the coach and the school.

Given the particular phrasing of an MOU, it could simply serve as a placeholder, meaning the coach could be considered an at-will employee, thus allowing either party to part ways without fulfilling a buyout obligation. In the FBS, typical head coach contracts mandate payments if either side opts to terminate early. However, an at-will agreement permits a coach to move on to another position without monetary consequences, while the school could terminate employment at will with no financial responsibilities.

YSL News Sports discovered that Moore’s contract status remained unfinalized after filing a request for the contracts of all Michigan football coaches under public records regulations. The university stated on August 15 that they only had a fully executed contract for one coach: Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale.

Ablauf confirmed that “a few” assistants within the football program had secured contracts, with some already signed. However, he did not detail which assistants had completed their agreements. Those, including Moore, still operating under MOUs, are respected according to the agreements established at the time of their hiring, he mentioned.

As of earlier this week, at least three other FBS institutions also had yet to finalize contracts with their head coaches, including Tim Skipper at Fresno State, Bryant Vincent at Louisiana-Monroe, and Sean Lewis at San Diego State.

A spokesperson from San Diego State informed that Lewis’s contract is anticipated to be “finalized very soon,” while Louisiana-Monroe’s athletic director, John Hartwell, indicated via email that Vincent’s contract is expected to be ratified during the upcoming University of Louisiana System governing board meeting in October. The offer letter explicitly states that Vincent acknowledges his employment is at-will “until such time as a term contract is approved by the Board.”

Tim Skipper had been under contract as an assistant at Fresno State when his predecessor, Jeff Tedford, stepped down for health reasons in mid-July. Fresno State subsequently promoted Skipper to an interim head coach. The university’s public records office reported Thursday that officials confirmed a new contract had not “yet been finalized.”

Additionally, former Utah State assistant Nate Dreiling is serving as an interim head coach, and the university’s public records office noted that following the initial release of this report, the situation remains ongoing.

This time, he does not possess a fully finalized Head Football Coach contract.” The records office also shared a copy of an assistant coach agreement that Dreiling and other university officials signed in June and again on July 1. Until then, Dreiling was working without a formal contract. He was elevated to his current position after the school dismissed Blake Anderson for cause in July.

On the other hand, Middle Tennessee’s coach Derek Mason went nearly nine months without a complete contract before finalizing his agreement late last week.

“It wasn’t a major focus for anyone,” stated Middle Tennessee’s athletic director Chris Massaro to The Daily News Journal, part of the YSL News Network. “Both he and I understood that there were countless other matters we preferred to discuss and address that were more pressing and time-sensitive than the contract.”

Similarly, there are issues at Kennesaw State, where veteran coach Brian Bohannon and the school are contractually required to renegotiate their agreement following the Owls’ transition to the FBS this season. This change is expected to include “market-based” salary adjustments and bonuses. However, on August 16, the university announced that no new contract had been made available. The existing agreement would position him as the lowest-paid head coach in the FBS by a significant margin, while also featuring bonuses linked to Football Championship Subdivision playoff successes. Kennesaw State representatives did not respond to a request for comment earlier this week.

Greenberg expressed his “shock” at the number of schools that had yet to finalize contracts with their head coaches just before the first full week of games, indicating that many disagreements likely revolve around “the back end of the contract,” particularly the wording about terminations and due process.

“Universities and coaches seem to have no problem reaching a financial consensus given the marketplace,” he remarked. “The challenges arise when we delve into the legal jargon.”

Contributors include Tony Garcia from The Detroit Free Press and Cecil Joyce from The Daily News Journal.