Sherrone Moore will no longer serve as the head college football coach at Michigan. The Wolverines must now reconsider their tradition of playing Mr. Brightside.
It creates poor optics moving forward.
The song, which was first introduced during a college football game at The Big House in 2016, speaks about the jealousy and paranoia attached to infidelity. Moore was fired with cause for alleged behavior that directly aligns with the lyrics.
Sherrone Moore was arrested.
Moore is a 39-year-old married father of three. He was named as the head coach at the University of Michigan on Jan. 26, 2024 when Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL. The Wolverines went 16-8 during his brief tenure, which included a suspension for the Connor Stalions scandal.
And then news broke on Wednesday afternoon that he was fired — for cause.
“Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effective immediately,” athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “Following a university investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. This conduct constitutes a clear violation of University policy, and UM maintains zero tolerance for such behavior.”
What started out as a wild college football story very quickly became something much bigger.
Sherrone Moore was detained by police in Saline, Mich. on Wednesday night. He was then arrested and booked into Washtenaw County Jail.
The Pittsfield Township Police Department provided a statement but did not name Moore directly. Officers responded to a call on the 3000 block of Ann Arbor-Saline Road for an alleged assault investigation. The incident did not appear to be random.
There are a lot of concerning accounts about what allegedly happened with Moore that led to his arrest. One particular story, if true, presents a very scary situation.
There is also a name floating around on the internet that seems to be the staffer on the other end of this “inappropriate relationship.” A video posted by the Big Ten Network on April 21, 2024 appears to show the head football coach standing next to the alleged staffer at a Michigan women’s lacrosse game.
All this after Sherrone Moore married his wife, Kelli, in 2015. They have three daughters.
Michigan has to reconsider Mr. Brightside.
The Wolverines first played ‘Mr. Brightside‘ in between the third and fourth quarters of a college football game at The Big House in 2016. It was a big hit.
From that point forward, Michigan adopted The Killers’ smash hit as something of an unofficial tradition. All 100,000+ fans in the crowd belt out the song together during the third quarter singalong.
singing Mr. Brightside as Michigan football beats Michigan State for the third straight year pic.twitter.com/R2jls1EVIV
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) October 27, 2024
This was at the Rose Bowl:
This was right before Michigan won the national championship:
SINGING MR. BRIGHTSIDE AS MICHIGAN WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 🏆〽️ pic.twitter.com/SNyg0SDQxE
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) January 9, 2024
Here is how it looks and sounds from the field:
They even sang Mr. Brightside during a blowout loss to Ohio State last month:
Mr. Brightside in the Big House never fails 🗣️🎶 pic.twitter.com/kNdJIz7YRw
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 29, 2025
The whole Sherrone Moore thing might put an end to this tradition. It is a song about the time when Killers lead singer Brandon Flowers’ ex-girlfriend cheated on him while they were together.
The lyrics are no longer appropriate for Michigan.
- “It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this? It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss.”
- “But she’s touching his chest now, he takes off her dress now… Let me go. And I just can’t look, it’s killing me. And taking control.”
Maybe the Wolverines will not legitimize the connection between Mr. Brightside and the decision to fire Moore with cause for an “inappropriate relationship with a staff member” and allow the sing-a-long to continue. However, the awkward optics would be hard to ignore if the fans continue to sing about a cheating scandal after their coach was fired for an alleged cheating scandal.