A federal lawsuit filed by former Michigan assistant Chris Partridge has put the Wolverines back in the middle of a mess that keeps getting bigger.
Partridge, who coached at Michigan from 2015-19 and served as linebackers coach in the 2023 season, is suing the university and several current and former leaders for wrongful termination after he was fired in November of that season. He was dismissed after being accused of destroying evidence tied to the sign-stealing scandal involving Connor Stalions.
But the lawsuit, as reported Monday by Outkick’s Trey Wallace, goes well beyond Partridge’s own firing.
According to the amended complaint, then-president Santa Ono and athletic director Warde Manuel knew about the sign-stealing operation “seasons ago,” before the 2023 season, because of evidence found on former assistant Matt Weiss’ computer. Weiss had previously been fired for “computer hacking crimes,” though the details of that case were never made public.
Partridge also alleges that Ono told staff not to report what they found from the sign-stealing investigation to compliance, the NCAA, or anyone else. The lawsuit says the evidence came from an investigation launched after Michigan hired an outside law firm.
The complaint doesn’t stop there. Partridge also claims Manuel and others knew about Sherrone Moore’s affair with staffer Paige Shiver “for years,” and that the matter only became public after another unnamed assistant contacted Shiver’s family in December and pushed them to “come forward.”
The lawsuit names the University of Michigan, Warde Manuel, Santa Ono, Tony Petitti, and the UM Board of Regents.
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